A  CHRISTIAN'S  APPRECIATION  ^' 

OF  OTHER  FAITHS 

REV,  GILBERT  REID,  D.  D, 

■•■■"  "  ■    ■  •  ■'■••^:   •■  ■'  ■':■                                                                                                                                   -  r 

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A  CHRISTIAN'S  APPRECIATION  OF  OTHER 
FAITHS. 


A  Christian's  Appreciation 
of  Other  Faiths 


A  Stud:g  of  the  Best  in  the 
^orld  's  Greateft  Religions 


by     , 
REV.  GILBERT  REID,  D.  D. 

Director-in-Chief  of  the  International  Institute 
of  China 

Author  of  "Glances  at  China",  'Anti-foreign  Dis 
turbances  in  China",  ''Religion  and  Revo- 
lution", "China,  Captive  or  Free?" 


Chicago        -        -        London 
THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

1921 


Copyright  1921 

THE    OPEN    COURT    PUBLISHING    CO. 

Chicago 


PRINTKD   IN   THE  UNITED   STATES  OF  AMERICA 
ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED 


PREFACE 

This  little  volume  consists  of  a  series  of  Lectures 
delivered  in  Shanghai,  China,  during  the  early  days 
of  the  Great  War.  They  were  delivered  in  the 
weekly  conferences  of  adherents  of  the  World's 
Great  Religions  in  the  International  Institute  of 
China.  They  were  given  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Billings  Lectureship  controlled  by  the  Unitarian 
Association  of  Boston.  No  restriction  was  placed  on 
the  lecturer  either  in  choice  of  topic  or  in  its  treat- 
ment.  The  one  selected  to  give  the  lectures  is  an 
ordained  minister  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
China,  a  union  organization  of  all  Presbyterians  in 
China. 

The  appreciative  approach  to  the  religious  beliefs, 
opinions  and  habits  of  other  persons,  peoples  and 
races  has  in  later  years  become  more  customary  than 
was  permissible  in  earlier  days.  This  is  probably 
the  first  time  that  the  appreciative  attitude  has  been 
maintained  in  an  all-around  investigation,  first  of 
four  of  the  great  non-Christian  Religions  of  Asiatic 
peoples  and  then  of  religious  conceptions  current 
among  Christian  peoples.  It  is  hard  to  say  which 
treatment  in  these  two  divisions  is  harder  to  main- 
tain, but  probably  towards  those  in  one's  own  midst 
who  hold  views  different  from  one's  own.  It  is  com- 
paratively easier  for  an  American  Christian  to  evince 
great  toleration  to  a  great  system  like  Confucianism, 
awav  off  in  Far  Cathav,  than  to  bear  with  a  fellow- 


6  A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

countryman  who  holds  decided  and  different  views 
of  his  own  concerning  aspects  of  Christianity. 

The  great  religions  discussed  are  those  which  are 
found  in  China.  There  is  thus  a  Chinese  as  well  as 
Oriental  tone  to  the  discussion.  The  hearers  of  the 
lectures  were  those  who  adhered  to  different  reli- 
gious Faiths.  The  appreciative  spirit  commended 
itself  to  non-Christians  even  more  than  to  Chris- 
tians, to  Chinese  more  than  to  Westerners. 

Possibly  complete  truth  cannot  be  reached,  if  the 
constructive  and  appreciative  attitude  alone  is  main- 
tained. Perhaps  truth  requires  that  criticism  be 
applied  to  everything  which  in  one's  opinion  is 
wrong,  erroneous,  mistaken  or  even  im.politic.  If 
all  this  be  sound  doctrine,  then  the  lecturer  m_ust 
appeal  to  the  large  num.ber  of  critics  to  complete  the 
study  by  their  varied  criticisms,  while  he  remains 
content  with  an  investigation  based  on  appreciation 
of  what  the  other  man  is  thinking,  of  his  beliefs,  his 
speculations,  his  aspirations  and  his  hopes.  In  gen= 
eral,  it  is  better  to  think  well  of  another  than  to 
think  ill,  or  at  least  to  dwell  on  another's  good  points 
than  on  his  bad  points.  As  a  new  translator  ex- 
presses in  English  the  words  of  St.  Paul  in  1st  Cor- 
inthians, Chapter  13,  "Love  is  never  glad  when 
others  go  wrong,  love  is  gladdened  by  goodness, 
always  slow  to  expose,  always  eager  to  believe  the 
best,  always  hopeful,  always  patient". 

These  lectures  were  given  within  the  first  year  of 
the  war,  when  China  was  still  neutral,  had  no 
thought  of  entering  the  war,  and  was  more  in  the 
calm,  judicial,  dispassionate,  tolerant  frame  of  mind 


PREFACE  7 

towards  the  opinions  of  others  of  whatever  kind 
than  Europeans  or  even  Americans.  Actual  partici- 
pation in  the  war  inevitably  made  men's  minds 
biased,  as  all  their  information  was  limited,  and  the 
governmental  policies  were  restrictive,  prohibitive 
and  in  many  cases  repressive.  This  is  always  one 
of  the  baneful  effects  of  war.  While  the  Western 
world,  religiously,  had  grown  through  several  dec- 
ades more  tolerant  and  liberal,  it  was  suddenly 
found  during  the  awful  developments  of  the  war 
that,  politically,  the  Western  world  was  very  intol- 
erant and  illiberal.  To  religious  toleration  must  be 
added  political  toleration,  and  to  this  class  respect 
and  class  co-operation.  At  present  the  Chinese  sur- 
pass Americans  in  both  religious  and  political  tolera- 
tion . 

The  discussion  in  these  lectures  is  not  so  much 
from  the  standpoint  of  what  is  comm.only  called 
Liberal  Religion  as  in  the  spirit  of  appreciativefiess. 
In  either  case  the  question  arises:  '*Can  missions 
exist  under  such  circumstances?"  If  the  spirit  of 
missions  disappears,  then  appreciativeness  and  lib- 
eral religion  are  both  wrong  and  ought  to  be  dis- 
carded. This  is  not  the  alternative  in  the  estimation 
of  the  one  who  gave  the  lectures.  A  special  treat- 
ment is  given  to  this  question  as  a  climax  to  the 
study.  It  deserves  serious  thought  on  the  part  of  all 
who  desire  the  spread  of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

The  lectures  are  here  printed  much  as  they  were 
given  in  the  city  of  Shanghai,  China,  in  connection 
with  this  lectureship.  The  hope  is  expressed  that 
a  missionary's  desire  to  be  appreciative  of  others 
and  of  the  beliefs  and  views  of  others  will  lead  reli- 


8  A  CHRISTIANAS  APPRECIATION  OF  OTHER  FAITHS. 

gious  thinkers  in  home  lands  to  cherish  the  same 
desire. 

The  suggestion  is  thrown  out  that  if  appreciation 
of  other  Faiths  is  desirable  and  productive  of  good, 
so  appreciation  of  other  nations  and  peoples — think- 
ing of  the  good  and  not  the  evil — may  be  the  best 
way  to  bring  about  reconciliation,  lasting  peace  and 
sure  friendship.  Let  us  begin  to  commend,  wher- 
ever it  is  possible,  and  give  up  the  unpleasant,  de- 
grading sensations  of  hate,  rancor,  and  denuncia- 
tion. 

Shanghai,  China.  GILBERT  REID. 


CONTENTS 

Part  I. 

Lecture  I  A  Christian's  Appreciation  of  Con- 

fucianism. 

Lecture  II  A  Christian's  Appreciation  of 
Taoism. 

Lecture  III  A  Christian's  Appreciation  of  Bud- 
dhism. 

Lecture  IV       A  Christian's  Appreciation  of  Islam. 

Part  II. 

Lecture  V         A   Christian's   Appreciation   of  the 

Jew. 
Lecture  VI        A  Protestant's  Appreciation  of  the 

Church  of  Rome. 
Lecture  Vll      A  Trinitarian's  Appreciation  of  the 

Unitarian, 
Lecture  VIII     Appreciation    of    Jesus    Christ    by 

Skepticism. 

Part  III, 

Lecture  IX        Concord  Among  Religions  and  Unity 

of  the  Truth. 
Lecture  X         An  Appreciative  Attitude  Towards 

Other  Faiths  in  Its  Bearings  on 

Missions. 

Appendix. 
Lecture  I  Christianity  and  the  Great  War. 

Lecture  II         Religion    and    the    Brotherhood    of 
Nations. 


CHAPTER  I 

A    CHRISTIAN'S    APPRECIATION    OF 
CONFUCIANISM 

The  lecture  today  is  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Billings  Lectureship  of  Boston,  whose  trustees  are 
members  of  the  Unitarian  body.  I  have  received 
appointment  to  give  a  series  of  addresses  in  China 
bearing  on  comparative  Religions,  but  with  no 
restriction  as  to  the  themes  to  be  selected  or  as  to 
the  manner  of  treatment.  There  has  been  laid  upon 
me  no  injunction  that  I  advance  views  other  than  m.y 
own  personal  convictions.  The  appointment  com.es 
to  me  from  liberal  Chnstianity  in  a  thoroughly  lib- 
eral spirit.  As  IJnitarianism  does  not  require  of  its 
members  and  ministers  that  they  subscribe  to  a 
creed,  so  an  unusual  breadth  of  mind  shows  itself 
in  this  appointment,  that  in  delivering  these  ad- 
dresses I  am  not  compelled  to  become  a  Unitarian. 

Reciprocating  this  largeness  of  spirit,  it  will  be 
my  endeavour,  in  the  different  lectures  which  I  may 
give  in  different  parts  of  China,  to  carry  out  this 
same  broad  spirit  by  a  study  of  concord  in  Religion 
as  illustrated  in  the  great  Religions,  particularly 
those  which  exist  in  China. 

Being  a  firm  believer  in  the  Christian  Religion, 
especially  as  personified  in  Jesus  the  Christ,  I  will 
today  venture  to  present  an  Appreciation  of  Con- 


12        A  christian's  appreciation  op  other  faiths. 

fucianism,  with  some   sympathetic   criticisms   and 
suggestions. 

From  the  time  I  first  began  to  make  a  study  of 
Confucianism,  it  has  been  my  growing  conviction 
that  no  antagonism  should  exist  between  Confucian- 
ism and  Christianity.  The  two  Religions,  like  two 
persons,  who  are  friends,  differ  in  mien,  physique, 
temperament,  thought,  manner,  and  occupation,  so 
these  two  Religions,  whilst  differing  in  many  char- 
acteristics, ceremonies,  and  the  consciousness  as  to 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  should  be  friendly 
to  each  other  and  helpful  to  each  other,  through 
agreement  in  those  spiritual  ideas  which  are  essen- 
tial and  fundamental,  through  the  reverential  real- 
ization of  the  common  source  of  all  truth  and  good= 
ness,  and  through  aspirations  after  higher  things, 
an  enlarged  vision,  and  future  perfection,  which 
these  Religions,  along  with  the  best  in  all  lands, 
expect  ere  soon  to  see  fulfilled. 

r  Even  where  these  two  Religions  differ,  they  may 
(Still  dwell  together  in  the  spirit  of  concord.  We  may 
not  look  for  uniformity  or  complete  agreement;  we 
may  look  for  harmony  and  mutual  regard.  Con- 
fucius, in  one  of  his  terse  sayings,  has  said :  ''The 
Princely  Man  is  harmonious  but  does  not  agree  with 
others,  the  Mean  Man  tries  to  be  like  others,  but  is 
not  harmonious."  It  is  a  misconception  to  think 
that  Confucianism  and  Christianity  are  the  same,  it 
is  an  equal  misconception  to  think  that  the  two  are 
antagonistic.  The  least  that  we  should  pray  for  is 
that  the  two,  whilst  differing  from  each  other, 
should  be  tolerant  of  each  other.    The  most  we  can 


CONFUCIANISM.  13 

pray  for  is  that  the  two  shall  at  last  unite  in  the 
unity  of  God,  and  in  personal  determination  to  do, 
as  Christ  enjoined,  the  will  of  God. 

I. 

The  first  reason  for  expressing  appreciation 
of  Confucianism  is  that  it  lays  emphasis  on  the 
duties  of  right  living,  which  are  of  essential  and 
universal  application.  The  moral  nature  of  men, 
the  rule  of  conscience,  the  moral  virtues  as  devel- 
oped from  justice  and  benevolence,  are  the  founda- 
tion principles  on  which  rises  the  sublime  structure 
of  Confucian  teaching.  The  virtues  taught  under 
various  terms  and  in  manifold  forms  of  expression 
relate  so  directly  and  clearly  to  the  present  life,  to 
human  obligation,  and  to  actual  deeds,  that  many 
have  assumed  that  Confucianism  is  only  a  system  of 
ethics.  If  so,  we  must  acknowledge  that  it  is  high 
ethics,  and  that  no  people  have  been  so  saturated 
with  ethical  ideas  as  have  the  Chinese.  It  is  the 
moral  element  that  makes  significant  the  ancient 
civilization  of  China. 

The  soil  from  which  spring  forth  all  virtues  is  the 
moral  nature  of  man.  The  orthodox  theory  of  Con- 
fucianism is  that  all  men  are  thus  endowed  with  this 
moral  nature,  a  law  written  in  the  heart,  a  con- 
science to  discern  between  right  and  wrong,  a  heav- 
enly rule,  the  voice  of  God  within.  If  the  orthodox 
Confucianist  and  the  orthodox  Christian  differ  in 
their  interpretation,  it  is  as  to  the  other  theory  of 
what  is  called  ''original  sin''  and  "total  depravity". 
That  men  have  an  aptitude  to  sin,  and  that  it  is 


14        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

hard  to  get  them  to  do  right,  will  be  acknowledged 
by  both  Confucianist  and  Christian,  but  they  sepa- 
rate when  they  begin  to  theorize  as  to  whether  or 
not  all  men  are  born  m  Sin  and  ivith  Sin,  and 
whether  sin  is  hereditary,  to  be  traced  back  to  the 
first  man. 

Mencius  has  spoken  most  clearly  on  this  particu- 
lar differing  from  other  theories  which  prevailed  in 
his  day.    He  said : 

'The  feeling  of  commiseration  belongs  to  all  men ; 
so  does  that  of  shame  and  dislike;  and  that  of  rev- 
erence and  respect;  and  that  of  approving  and  dis- 
approving. The  feeling  of  commiseration  implies 
the  principle  of  benevolence ;  that  of  shame  and  dis- 
like the  principle  of  righteousness;  that  of  reverence 
and  respect,  the  principle  of  propriety;  and  that  of 
approving  and  disapproving,  the  principle  of  knowl- 
edge. Benevolence,  righteousness,  propriety,  and 
knowledge,  are  not  infused  into  us  from  without. 
We  are  certainly  furnished  with  them.  And  a  dif- 
ferent view  is  simply  from  want  of  reflexion.  Hence 
it  is  said,  "Seek  and  you  will  find  them.  Neglect  and 
you  will  lose  them."  Men  differ  from  one  another 
in  regard  to  them ; — some  as  much  again  as  others, 
some  five  times  as  much,  and  some  to  an  incalculable 
amount — it  is  because  they  cannot  carry  out  fully 
their  natural  powers.  It  is  said  in  the  Book  of 
Poetry, 

"Heaven  in  producing  mankind. 
Gave  them  their  various  faculties  and  relations  with 
their  law. 


CONFUCIANISM.  15 

These  are  the  invariable  rules  of  nature  for  all  to 

hold, 
And  all  love  this  admirable  virtue." 

Confucius  has  said,  'The  maker  of  this  ode  knev^  in- 
deed the  principle  of  our  nature."  We  may  thus  see 
that  every  faculty  and  relation  must  have  its  law, 
and  since  there  are  invariable  rules  for  all  to  hold, 
they  consequently  love  this  admirable  virtue." 

From  the  quotation  which  Mencius  makes  from 
the  Book  of  Poetry  we  learn  that  Confucian  teach- 
ings are  not  only  ethical,  but  religious.  We  are 
taught  that  the  moral  nature  of  man  is  the  produc- 
tion of  Heaven  or  God.  This  is  the  very  first  sen- 
tence in  the  Doctrine  of  the  Mean,  ''What  Heaven 
has  conferred  or  ordained  is  called  (moral)  nature; 
to  comply  with  this  nature  is  called  the  path  (of 
duty)  ;  to  cultivate  or  put  in  order  this  path  is  called 
instruction  (a  system  of  teaching,  a  religion)."  So 
the  Sung  philosopher  and  commentator,  CJm  fu  tsze, 
has  declared  in  this  connexion,  that  ''men  and  the 
world  of  matter  have  each  received  from  Heaven  an 
endowment  of  supreme  law." 

Possessed  of  this  moral  inheritance  from  God,  all 
the  duties  of  men  are  summed  up  in  the  one  com- 
prehensive word,  called  Virtue.  China's  ancient 
teachers  ring  the  changes  on  this  word;  over  and 
over  again  men  are  exhorted  to  cultivate  virtue. 
Sometimes,  as  in  the  Great  Learning,  the  injunction 
is  cultivation  of  one's  personality,  or  what  is  com- 
monly called  the  training  of  character.  One  of  Con- 
fucius' maxims  is,  "The  Princely  Man  cherishes  vir- 
tue; the  Mean  Man  cherishes  comfort."     Again  he 


16        A  christian's  appreciation  op  other  faiths. 

says :  *'When  virtue  is  not  cultivated ;  when  learning 
is  not  discussed;  when  righteousness  is  learned  but 
not  practised ;  and  when  that  which  is  not  good  can- 
not be  changed,  this  is  my  solicitude/'  The  first 
sentence  in  the  Great  Learning  says  that  ''The  way 
of  the  Great  Learning  may  be  summed  up  in  three 
things :  cultivating  illustrious  virtue,  renovating  the 
people  and  resting  in  the  highest  goodness." 

Virtue,  by  which  the  moral  nature  of  man  is  de- 
nominated, has  many  characteristics,  but  summed 
up  in  the  five  cardinal  virtues,  humanity,  righteous- 
ness, propriety,  knowledge  and  fidelity.  The  first 
two  are  used  the  most  by  both  Confucius  and  Men- 
cius.  The  first,  as  a  Chinese  character,  means  love 
as  between  man  and  man,  and  may  be  called  charity 
or  brotherly  love.  This,  too,  is  characterized  in 
many  ways,  as  is  charity  in  the  Christian  Scriptures. 
Thus  when  Confucius  was  asked  by  one  of  his  disci- 
ples what  it  was,  he  replied :  *'To  be  able  to  practise 
five  things  under  the  heavens  constitutes  charity." 
And  being  asked  what  they  were,  he  added:  "Re- 
spect, large-heartedness,  fidelity,  earnestness,  and 
kindness.  If  you  are  respectful,  you  will  not  be  in- 
sulted; if  you  are  large-hearted,  you  will  win  all; 
if  you  are  faithful,  men  will  repose  trust  in  you;  if 
you  are  earnest,  you  will  accomplish  much;  if  you 
are  kind,  you  will  be  able  to  employ  the  services  of 
others."  This  is  much  like  the  teaching  of  the  Apos- 
tle Paul,  when  he  says:  "Put  on  charity  which  is 
the  bond  or  girdle  of  perfectness." 

And  as  with  the  great  Apostle  righteousness  is 
taught  equally  with  brotherly  love,  so  with  Confu- 


CONFUCIANISM.  17 

cius  and  Mencius.  The  latter  says,  ''Brotherly  love 
is  the  heart  of  man;  righteousness  is  the  path  for 
man  to  follow.  How  lamentable,  if  men  neglect  the 
path  and  do  not  pursue  it;  if  they  lose  their  heart 
and  do  not  know  how  to  find  it  again."  Confucius 
says,  'The  Princely  Man  in  the  world  does  not  set 
his  mind  either  for  or  against  anything,  but  what  is 
right,  that  he  will  follow." 

The  Chinese  Classics  are  in  fact  saturated  with 
these  teachings,  exhortations,  commands,  for  living 
an  upright  life  and  performing  all  the  duties  which 
Heaven  prescribes,  as  revealed  in  an  enlightened 
conscience,  and  as  applicable  to  all  the  conditions  of 
life.  The  Chinese  people,  too,  have  been  thus  satu- 
rated with  these  high  and  worthy  sentiments,  and 
from  childhood,  in  the  school  or  out  of  the  school, 
have  been  impressed  with  human  obligation,  as 
directed  in  deep  reverence  to  God  and  in  fidelity  to 
man. 

II. 

A  second  reason  for  appreciating  Confucianism 
is  because  its  great  principles,  whilst  applicable 
to  all  life,  apply  in  particular  to  the  social,  the  po- 
litical and  the  educational  departments  of  life.  The 
five  cardinal  virtues  relate  to  what  is  called  the  five 
social  or  human  relations,  ruler  and  his  ministers, 
husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  brother  and 
brother,  friend  and  friend.  These  relations  are,  in 
our  Christian  phraseology,  spiritualized,  or  widened 
to  far  beyond  the  limits  of  one's  own  family  circle. 
Thus  the  spirit  that  should  exist  between  parent  and 


18        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

child,  is  that  which  should  exist  between  public  offi- 
cers or  rulers  and  the  people. 

Similarly,  all  moral  teachings  are  made  to  apply 
to  all  who  exercise  authority.  The  moral  science  of 
Confucianism  is  in  the  first  place  social  science  or 
sociology,  and  in  the  second  place,  political  science 
or  national  well-being.  The  political  science  of  Con- 
fucianism gives  us  light  less  on  forms  of  govern- 
ment than  on  the  duties  of  virtue,  which  rest  on  offi- 
cers of  the  government  from  the  highest  to  the  low- 
est. In  the  Confucian  sense,  political  reform  means 
first  of  all  moral  reform,  the  reformation  of  the 
individual.  Numberless  citations  could  be  made,  but 
only  a  few  are  needed,  and  these,  I  may  remark,  are 
known  even  to  the  illiterate  of  China  as  well  as  to 
the  learned  literati. 

The  Classic  of  the  Great  Learning  may  be  called 
a  hand-book  on  the  science  of  morals  and  politics 
linked  together.  It  deals  with  the  supreme  obliga- 
tions of  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  a  nation,  but  it  is  a 
treatise  which  each  child,  rich  or  poor,  all  over  the 
land  has,  in  past  years  at  least,  been  required  to 
memorize.  It  shows  the  duty  of  rulers  to  train  their 
individual  characters,  and  it  shows  how  closely  the 
prosperity  of  a  nation  is  linked  with  the  righteous 
character  and  conduct  of  the  ruler  and  officials. 

The  teaching  of  the  Great  Learning  by  one  of  the 
disciples  of  Confucius  corroborates  the  earlier  teach- 
ings of  the  Book  of  Odes  and  the  Book  of  History, 
three  to  four  thousand  years  ago.  In  one  of  the 
Odes  by  the  Duke  of  Chou  to  the  Ministers  of  the 
Chou  dynasty  of  Shang  or  Yin,  we  have  the  words : 


CONFUCIANISM.  19 

''Ever  think  of  your  ancestor, 

Cultivating  your  virtue, 

Always   striving   to    accord    with   the    will    (of 

Heaven) . 
So  shall  you  be  seeking  for  much  happiness. 
Before  Yin  lost  the  multitudes, 
(Its  kings)  were  the  assessors  of  God. 
Look  to  Yin  as  a  beacon ; 

The  great  appointment  is  not  easily  (preserved) . 
The  appointment  is  not  easily  (preserved). 
Do  not  cause  your  own  extinction. 
Display  and  make  bright  your  righteousness  and 

name, 
And  look  at   (the  fate  of)    Yin  in  the  light  of 

Heaven. 
Have  neither  sound  nor  smell. 
Take  your  pattern  from  king  Wen, 
And  the  myriad  regions  will  repose  confidence  in 

you." 

In  another  Ode  occur  these  words  : 

''God  said  to  king  Wen, 
'I  am  pleased  with  your  intelligent  virtue, 
Not  loudly  proclaimed  nor  portrayed. 
Without  extravagance  or  changeableness, 
Without  consciousness  of  effort  on  your  part. 
In  accordance  with  the  pattern  of  God.'  " 

The  whole  history  beginning  with  the  ancient 
rulers,  Yao  and  Shun,  down  to  Yli  the  Great,  founder 
of  the  Hsia  dynasty  in  2205  B.  c,  on  to  Tang, 
founder  of  the  Shang,  in  1776  B.  c,  on  to  King  Wu, 
founder  of  the  Chou  dynasty,  in  1122  B.  c,  is  a  his- 


20        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

tory  full  of  warning,  admonition,  and  exhortation, 
with  examples  of  upright  reformers  and  statesmen 
to  follow  and  cherish,  and  with  the  example  of  bad 
rulers  to  shun  and  abhor.  The  story  is  told  in  the 
Book  of  Odes  and  the  Book  of  History.  In  the 
Spring  and  Autumn  Annals  Confucius  tells  of  later 
events,  a  sad  record  of  disorder,  confusion,  lawless- 
ness and  wickedness,  one  kingdom  quarrelling  with 
another,  and  one  ruler  overthrown  by  another. 
Everywhere  and  through  all  these  centuries  confirm- 
ation is  given  to  the  declaration  of  Solomon, 
''Righteousness  exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  a  re- 
proach to  any  people." 

The  Analects,  the  Great  Learning  and  **Mencius," 
carry  on  the  same  teaching  that  righteousness  and 
benevolence  are  the  essentials  of  government. 
These  are  the  questions  which  concern  the  Sages  of 
Confucianism  as  they  expound  the  science  of  poli- 
tics and  not  the  multitude  of  questions  with  which 
Western  Political  Science  loves  to  enlighten  the 
world. 

Ancient  learning  as  distinct  from  the  new  learn- 
ing is  also  inseparably  bound  up  in  the  moral  and 
religious  principles  of  Confucianism.  Ethics  and  the 
substratum  of  religion  enter  into  a  knowledge  of 
history,  sociology,  finance,  political  science,  belles- 
lettres,  poetry,  etiquette,  and  music;  whilst  modern 
and  western  learning  has  little  to  say  of  God,  and 
overlooks  the  common  duties  of  human  relations.  I 
appreciate  for  this  reason  what  Confucianism  has 
wrought  in  the  past,  and  dread  the  effects  of  the 
new  learning  on  the  student  class  of  today. 


CONFUCIANISM.  21 


III. 


A  third  ground  of  appreciation  is  the  re- 
markble  fact  that  Confucianism  makes  supreme  and 
all-important  the  root  origin  of  things.  In  looking 
at  Confucianism  from  the  superficial  point  of  view, 
in  its  aspects  of  ceremonialism,  rules  of  etiquette, 
methods  of  governing,  land  taxation,  the  worship 
of  spirits,  and  even  in  its  moral  maxims,  there  is 
good  chance  for  criticism,  as  well  for  admiration. 
When  we  search  for  its  inner  worth,  for  the  kernel 
of  eternal  truth,  for  basic  principles,  all  criticism 
vanishes  and  admiration  alone  remains.  This  search 
for  first  causes,  this  delving  down  to  the  root  of  the 
tree  of  knowledge  and  tree  of  righteousness,  is  the 
most  vital  of  all  the  teaching  which  Confucianism 
offers  to  China  and  also  to  religious  thinkers 
throughout  the  world. 

Early  in  the  Analects  of  Confucius  occur  these 
words:  'The  Princely  Man  gives  attention  to  the 
root  of  things ;  when  the  root  is  secure,  there  springs 
up  all  kinds  of  truth;  filial  piety  and  fraternal  re- 
gard, these  are  the  root  of  benevolent  action." 

In  the  Great  Learning  we  have  the  simple  state- 
ment: *'A11  things  have  root,  and  they  have 
branches;  all  deeds  have  a  beginning  and  an  end.'' 
The  writer  then  traces  back  the  process  of  pacifying 
the  Empire  to  the  good  order  of  the  State,  to  the 
regulation  of  the  family,  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
individual,  to  the  rectifying  of  the  heart,  to  the  sin- 
cerity of  the  thoughts,  and  finally  to  the  highest 
attainment  of  knowledge,  and  this  extreme  knowl- 
edge is  found  in  investigating  all  things,  in  the  spirit 


22        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

of  research.  He  then  throws  in  the  sentence  that 
''from  the  Emperor  down  to  the  mass  of  the  people, 
all  should  make  the  cultivation  of  individual  charac- 
ter as  the  root.'* 

Later  on,  in  the  same  book,  when  dealing  with  the 
great  problem  of  making  the  nation  prosperous,  the 
writer  presents  the  following  stages  in  the  develop- 
ment to  the  original  cause: 

"On  this  account,  the  ruler  will  first  take  pains 
about  his  own  virtue.  Possessing  virtue  will  give 
him  the  territory.  Possessing  the  territory  will  give 
him  its  wealth.  Possessing  the  wealth,  he  will  have 
resources  for  expenditure. 

"Virtue  is  the  root ;  wealth  is  the  result." 

Similarly,  the  very  first  sentence  in  the  Doctrine 
of  the  Mean,  as  we  have  shewn,  shews  how  all  reli- 
gion or  instruction  is  preceded  by  the  path  of  duty 
or  doctrine,  and  this  by  Heaven's  law  in  the  soul, 
or  man's  moral  nature,  and  this  by  Heaven  or  God, 
from  whom  every  law,  principle  and  religion  have 
come. 

In  all  the  Classics  we  are  taught  again  and  again 
that  God  is  the  great  First  Cause,  and  on  Him  we 
are  all  dependent.  The  philosophers  of  the  Sung 
period  revelled  in  such  discussions,  but  always  rev- 
erentially, and  the  Book  of  Changes  with  the  notes 
of  Confucius  forms  the  basis  of  their  philosophy. 

The  philosopher,  CJm  fit  tsze,  gives  an  elaborate 
explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  universe,  which  is 
more  that  of  gradual  evolution  than  of  distinct  crea- 
tion. 

Man,  the  material  world,  heaven  and  earth,  are 
all  preceded  by  a  formless,  chaotic  condition,  and 


CONFUCIANISM.  23 

this  in  turn  is  preceded  by  two  principles,  the  one 
termed  Ruling  Principle  (li),  and  the  other  a  Vivify- 
ing Principle  (ch'i).  They  are  two,  and  yet  so  joined 
that  the  one  cannot  exist  without  the  other.  The 
one  is  lifeless;  the  other  full  of  life.  The  Ruling 
Principle  needs  the  Vivifying  Principle  to  secure 
results,  whilst  the  Vivifying  Principle  in  turn  de- 
pends on  the  Ruling  Principle  for  the  way  its  power 
shall  be  exerted  and  exhibited. 

Being  asked  whether  the  Ruling  Principle  really 
existed  before  heaven  and  earth,  he  said:  "Before 
heaven  and  earth  there  was  most  certainly  just  this 
Ruling  Principle.  The  Principle  existing,  heaven 
and  earth  existed.  If  this  Principle  did  not  exist, 
there  would  have  been  no  heaven  or  earth,  no  man 
or  things.  The  Ruling  Principle  existing,  then  the 
Vivifying  Principle  exists,  flows  forth,  pervades,  and 
germinates  all  the  material  world."  Being  asked 
if  it  was  the  Ruling  Principle  which  germinated  all 
things,  he  replied  that  when  the  Ruling  Principle 
exists,  the  Vivifying  Principle  exists,  flows  forth, 
pervades,  and  germinates.  The  Ruling  Principle  as 
such  is  without  form  or  body.' 

The  next  problem  is  the  origin  of  these  two  Prin- 
ciples. In  some  respects  it  looks  as  if  there  was 
nothing  beyond  or  before,  but  that  the  two  Princi- 
ples were  the  finality.  This  is  not,  however,  the  real 
teaching  of  this  Chinese  thinker.  He  traces  them, 
as  well  as  heaven  and  earth,  to  the  Absolute,  The 
Great  Extreme,  T'ai  Chi. 

He  says:  ''Being  asked  whether  the  Absolute  is 
the  chaotic  mass  before  heaven  and  earth  came  into 
being,  or  the  general  name  for  the  Ruling  Principle 


24        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

of  heaven  and  all  the  rational  world,  he  replied  that 
the  Absolute  is  the  Ruling  Principle  of  heaven  and 
earth  and  all  things.  As  to  that  which  is  within 
heaven  and  earth,  the  Absolute  is  in  the  midst  of 
heaven  and  earth.  As  to  that  which  is  within  all 
things,  the  Absolute  is  inherent  in  all." 

Chu  Fu-tsze  in  his  abstract  speculation  advances 
to  another  great  thought,  and  that  is  that  first  of  all 
there  was  the  Infinite  or  Wu  Chi,  but  that  the  Infi- 
nite was  the  Absolute,  and  the  Absolute  the  Infinite, 
just  like  a  circle  in  the  ancient  diagram.  The  one 
side  is  the  incomprehensible,  the  mysterious,  the  in- 
visible ;  the  other  side  represents  through  the  Ruling 
and  Vivifying  Principles,  a  vast  manifestation,  un- 
folded in  heaven  and  earth,  all  matter  and  man. 
He  says:  'The  Absolute  (Great  Extreme)  derives 
its  name  from  the  idea  of  the  highest  pivot.  The 
sages  called  it  the  Absolute  meaning  thereby  the 
root  of  heaven,  earth,  and  all  things.  Hence  it  was 
that  Chou-tsze  termed  it  the  Infinite  (Wu  Chi),  and 
so  expressed  the  Mysterious  without  sound  or  fra- 
grance." And  again:  "The  Absolute  is  just  the 
extreme  point,  beyond  which  no  one  can  go;  most 
high,  most  magnificent,  most  subtle,  most  spiritual, 
surpassing  all." 

By  thus  examining  the  doctrines  taught  by  the 
Sung  philosophers  and  based  on  the  old,  mystical 
teachings  of  the  Book  of  Changes,  one  should  be 
convinced  that  Confucianism  is  a  religion  as  well  as 
a  system  of  ethics.  Confucianism  cannot  be  limited 
to  the  sayings  of  Confucius,  still  less  to  his  ethical 
sayings.  The  Classics  which  he  compiled  are  satu- 
rated with  religious  ideas.     All  righteous  conduct 


CONFUCIANISM.  25 

and  a  virtuous  heart  draw  their  life  from  above.  All 
are  dependent  on  God. 


IV. 

A  fourth  ground  of  appreciation  is  the  fact 
that  the  men  who  gave  utterance  to  all  these  good 
teachings  lived  good  lives.  They  practiced  right- 
eousness who  preached  it.  They  were  not  only 
Teachers,  but  Good  Men  and  Holy  Men.  From  Yao 
and  Shun  down  to  Confucius  every  one  who  taught 
wise  and  good  sayings  was  an  earnest  and  practical 
reformer.  The  lives  of  these  men  carried  more 
weight  than  their  words. 

In  a  tribunal  age,  Confucius  was  moved  to  leave 
his  classroom  and  go  out  into  society  and  the  life  of 
different  kingdoms,  exhorting  the  common  people, 
and  still  more  kings  and  officers,  to  abandon  wicked- 
ness and  establish  just  laws  and  right  ideas.  As 
James  Freeman  Clarke  has  said:  ''Many  beautiful 
and  noble  things  are  related  concerning  the  charac- 
ter of  Confucius, — of  his  courage  in  the  midst  of 
danger,  of  his  humility  in  the  highest  position  of 
honour.  His  writings  and  life  have  given  the  law 
to  Chinese  thought.  He  is  the  patron  saint  of  that 
great  empire. 

The  seventy-two  disciples  of  Confucius  were 
chosen  more  for  their  love  of  goodness  than  for 
mental  attainments.  Mencius,  his  chief  apostle,  is 
thus  reckoned  among  the  Holy  Men;  his  character 
was  as  great  as  his  intellect.  So,  too,  the  noted 
commentators  of  the  Tang  and  Sung  periods,  and 
those  less  known  in  the  last  dynasty,  have  given 


•26        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

strength  to  their  writings  by  the  sincerity  of  their 
lives.  Cant,  hypocrisy,  fine  words  but  bad  living, 
have  characterized  none  of  these  leaders,  but  only 
men  of  less  calibre,  and  especially  the  literati  of  lat- 
ter years.  But  as  Christianity  is  not  to  be  judged 
by  the  hypocricies  of  Christians,  so  Confucianism 
should  not  be  condemned  for  the  lack  of  virtue, 
truth,  and  sincerity  amongst  mere  students  of  the 
ancient  Classics.  For  4,000  years  the  noted  teachers 
of  thought  combined  in  the  Confucian  system  have 
been  men  who  practised  what  they  preached,  and 
for  this  they  are  worthy  of  honour. 

V. 

A  fifth  reason  for  appreciating  Confucianism 
is  that  it  is  adapted  to  the  common  people  as  well 
as  to  the  learned.  The  usual  name  of  Confucianism 
implies  that  it  is  a  Religion  of  the  Learned.  To  be 
a  Chinese  scholar,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
Classics  has  been  deemed  a  necessity.  Confucian- 
ism is  thus  not  only  a  system  of  ethics  with  spiritual 
truths,  but  a  method  of  learning.  Chinese  education 
has  meant  a  training  in  the  literary  excellences  of 
the  Classics,  whether  the  moral  and  religious  ideas 
were  always  accepted  or  not.  Thus  up  to  the  pres- 
ent the  literati  have  been  dependent  on  the  Confu- 
cian Classics.  Many  such  are  inclined  to  make  Con- 
fucianism only  a  learning,  and  not  a  system  of 
ethics.  They  even  go  so  far  as  to  declare  it  is  not 
a  religion  at  all.  Confucius  has  been  dethroned 
from  his  lofty  place  as  a  messenger  of  Heaven  and  a 
preacher  of  righteousness.     He  has  been  made  only 


CONFUCIANISM.  27 

an  essayist  a  litterateur.  When  Confucianism  is 
thus  narrowed,  it  will  not  be  long  before,  in  the  face 
of  modern  science  and  the  new  learning,  it  is  re- 
jected altogether. 

As  a  matter  of  history,  the  educated  men  of  China 
in  the  past,  but  not  in  the  present,  have  been  close 
students  of  Confucianism.  Its  ideas  have  been  ac- 
ceptable, its  rites  have  been  observed.  The  life  of 
the  learned  has  been  moulded  by  Confucianism, 
which  in  common  phraseology  has  been  called  the 
Great  Religion. 

The  life  of  the  common  people  has  also  been 
moulded  by  Confucianism.  In  fact  the  mind  of  the 
Chinese  is  Confucian.  The  great  underlying,  all- 
important  principles  of  Confucianism  have  become 
known  to  all,  the  illiterate  as  well  as  the  learned. 
Certain  phrases  embodying  the  germ  thought  of 
Confucianism  are  on  the  lips  of  ignorant  women,  the 
country  peasant  and  the  little  child.  Confucianism 
should  be  called  not  only  a  Religion  of  the  Learned, 
but  the  Religion  of  China.  Its  vital  teachings  clearly 
expressed  have  permeated  the  whole  nation.  They 
are  adapted  to  high  and  low,  to  ruler  and  people,  and 
therein  show  their  divine  inspiration  and  origin  in 
Heaven. 

These  five  reasons  should  convince  every  one  that 
for  a  Christian  to  appreciate  Confucianism  is  not 
senseless  or  base  but  reasonable  and  sound.  The 
position  is  both  liberal  and  orthodox. 

The  one  great  criticism  passed  today  on  Confu- 
cianism is  that  it  has  no  vitality,  no  dynamic  power, 
and,  being  a  human  teaching,  can  have  none.  It  is 
true  that  it  seems  to  be  decadent,  that  its  good  points 


28        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

are  being  discarded,  and  that  it  is  fast  becoming 
mere  ceremonialism,  a  worship  of  Confucius,  a  cult, 
and  not  a  life  or  even  a  system  of  religion  or  ethics. 
To  my  mind  this  is  to  be  regretted.  It  is  equally 
clear  that  the  criticism  contains  a  fallacy.  If  Con- 
fucianism as  a  religion  has  lost  its  power,  it  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  many  branches  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  in  the  past,  and  also  today,  have  been 
decadent,  retaining  the  form,  but  losing  the  life,  of 
a  spiritual  religion.  The  only  way  for  Confucian- 
ism or  Christianity  or  any  other  religion  to  have 
life-giving  power  is  to  resume  connexion  with  the 
one  living  and  true  God,  rely  more  on  His  spiritual 
presence,  than  on  systems  and  forms,  rites  and 
creeds;  and  believe  with  a  new  assurance  of  faith 
that  God  is  All  and  in  all,  and  that  man,  whilst  His 
offspring,  can  do  no  good  apart  from  Him.  This 
truth,  as  the  criticism  itself,  applies  equally  to  Chris- 
tian and  Confucianist. 


CHAPTER  II 

A  CHRISTIAN'S  APPRECIATION  OF  TAOISM 

My  acquaintance  with  the  teachings,  books  and 
followers  of  Taoism  has  been  nearly  as  long  as  my 
acquaintance  with  Confucianism,  and  growth  in 
acquaintance  has  brought  growth  in  appreciation. 
On  my  part  there  is  today  more  than  tolerance  of 
another  Faith,  there  is  real  sympathetic  apprecia- 
tion. 

It  is  as  a  Christian  and  as  a  missionary  that  I 
view  with  admiration  the  fundamental  characteris- 
tics of  Taoist  doctrine.  Just  as  to  my  mind  there  is 
no  antagonism  between  Christianity  and  Confucian- 
ism, if  the  essentials  be  considered,  so  in  the  same 
way  Christianity  and  Taoism  are  not  mutually  an- 
tagonistic. In  very  much  they  are  in  accord,  and  in 
many  ways  they  may  be  mutually  helpful.  The 
Christian  teacher,  on  his  part,  can  find  many  a 
choice  expression  in  the  Taoist  classics,  containing 
high  spiritual  truths,  interpretive  of  the  great  teach- 
ings of  Christianity.  The  sayings  of  Confucianism 
are  useful  in  ethical  instruction,  and  those  of  Tao- 
ism in  spiritual  instruction. 

Both  Taoism  and  Confucianism  embrace  within 
themselves  the  teachings  prior  to  the  time  of  their 
special  founders,  Lao  tsu  and  Confucius,  just  as 
Christianity  includes  the  records  of  both  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  Scriptures.    In  ancient  times  there 

29 


30        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

was  only  one  Religion  in  China,  which  had  been 
handed  down  from  the  earliest  days.  Confucianism 
and  Taoism  were  only  two  branches  of  the  one  an- 
cient Faith,  two  schools  of  thought  interpreting  a 
revelation  from  God.  The  Confucian  branch  repre- 
sents the  more  practical  and  ethical  side  of  religion, 
whilst  the  Taoist  branch  represents  the  more  spirit- 
ual and  mystical  side.  There  are,  indeed,  but  few 
references  to  the  ancient  Books  in  Taoist  literature, 
but  the  careful  student  will  discern  many  religious 
ideas  which  were  absorbed  into  the  Taoist  Classic 
from  the  Holy  Men  before,  just  as  one  who  drinks 
from  a  stream  is  drinking  from  a  spring  far  up  the 
the  mountains. 

I. 

The  student  of  Taoism  must  be  first  impressed 
with  its  profound  message  concerning  Tao,  the  way. 
This  word  is  best  understood  if  translated  as  Uni- 
versal Law,  or  the  Law  of  Nature,  such  a  law,  being 
the  loay  or  course  in  which  Nature  operates,  or 
which  God,  the  great  first  cause,  known  in  Chinese 
as  the  Great  Extreme,  has  been  operating  through 
the  phenomena  of  the  universe.  Some  have  used  the 
word  Reason  to  translate  the  Chinese  term,  and  thus 
an  impression  has  been  created  that  Taoists  are  the 
Rationalists  of  China,  when  more  properly  they 
should  be  called  Spiritualists  and  Mystics. 

Another  Chinese  term  called  Li,  and  translated 
as  an  Inner  Principle,  is  almost  interchangeable 
with  Tao,  so  much  so  that  in  colloquial  Chinese  the 
two  are  used  together,  and  are  generally  understood 


TAOISM.  31 

to  denote  Doctrine  or  Truth.  If  there  is  any  se- 
quence in  the  two  terms,  Law  is  preceded  by  Princi- 
ple. Thus  in  the  first  sentence  of  the  Doctrine  of 
the  Mean,  written  by  a , spiritually-minded  disciple 
of  Confucius,  we  are  taught  that  first  in  order  comes 
Heaven  or  God,  who  is  elsewhere  called  the  Root  of 
all  things.  Next  in  order  comes  the  Inner  Princi- 
ple which  emanates  from  God  and  is  implanted  in 
all  nature,  animate  and  inanimate;  with  man  this 
Principle  is  spoken  of  as  his  Moral  Nature.  From 
the  Inner  Principle  there  comes  universal  Law  or 
the  Way,  the  particular  thought  being  that  God  has 
a  way  in  which  this  Inner  Principle  must  reveal  it- 
self. From  this  universal  Law  there  issues  a  Teach- 
ing or  a  Religion,  this  being  the  final  and  specific 
elaboration  of  the  laws  written  on  the  heart  by  the 
indwelling  Spirit  of  God. 

With  the  Confucian  series  Taoism  has  much  in 
common;  its  emanations,  however,  are  set  forth  in 
simpler  order,  in  a  three-fold  series.  There  is  first 
Heaven  or  God,  then  this  Universal  Law,  embracing 
in  itself  the  Inner  Principle,  and  then  Virtue  or 
Goodness  instead  of  Teaching  or  a  Religion.  The 
term  Teaching,  or  a  religious  system,  is  suited  bet- 
ter to  the  scholastic  character  of  Confucianism, 
whilst  the  term  Virtue  is  suited  to  the  Spiritual 
Character  of  Taoism.  So  close  is  the  relation  of  God 
to  his  Law,  as  it  works  itself  out  in  the  universe  and 
especially  in  Man,  that  the  impersonal  law 
and  the  personal  God  are  thought  of  as  one 
and  the  same.  Hence  some  have  criticised 
Taoism  ,  as  they  have  criticised  modern  Con- 
fucianism,   as   being   without    God,    as    materialis- 


32        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

tic  or  atheistic.  Thus,  it  is  cited,  Chu  fu-tsu  of  the 
Sung  dynasty  once  used  the  expression:  "Heaven 
is  Li  or  Principle,"  turning  Personality  into  a  mere 
Idea.  The  thought  of  this  profound  philosopher 
was  rather  that  even  Heaven  must  conform  to  the 
ruling  Principles  of  the  universe,  and  so  much  so 
does  He  conform  thereto  that  both  are  brought  to- 
gether as  one.  In  the  same  way  Christ  said,  *1  am 
the  way,  the  Truth  and  the  Life". 

The  Taoist  Mystic  also  linked  his  idea  of  Law  with 
God  and  made  them  one  and  the  same.  Lao  tsu  was 
a  great  Monist.  God  as  the  Origin  of  all  must  con- 
form to  the  Law  which  He  has  implanted  in  the  uni- 
verse and  in  Man.  Eternal  Law  binds  God  as  it 
binds  all  mankind.  Law  is  universal,  it  is  eternal, 
it  is  one,  it  is  God.  To  such  a  degree  is  this  true, 
and  so  masterful  is  the  sway  of  Law,  that  if  human 
thought  is  to  think  of  a  series  at  all.  Law  is  thought 
of  as  first  and  God  as  subsequent.  Thus  in  the  4th 
chapter  of  the  great  Classic,  it  is  said  that  this  Uni- 
versal Law  is  as  if  it  were  the  ancestor  of  the  mate- 
rial universe,  plainly  teaching,  as  elsewhere  it  is 
taught,  that  before  the  heavens  and  the  earth  and  all 
this  material  world  with  its  vegetable  and  animal 
life  there  existed  this  eternal  and  Universal  Law. 
Then  comes  the  paradoxical  statement,  '*I  do  not 
know  whose  son  it  is;  it  seems  to  be  before  God'. 
That  is,  instead  of  Law  being  a  son,  it  is  a  father,  of 
God.  This  is,  however,  only  a  strong  and  striking 
way  of  saying  that  Law,  by  which  all  the  universe 
is  governed,  and  from  which  it  cannot  escape,  is 
everlasting,  and  so  much  so  is  it  everlasting,  and  so 
supreme,  that  even  God  is  bound  by  it,  and  may  be 


TAOISM.  33 

said  to  come  after  Law.     In  reality  Law  and  God 
are  alike  everlasting. 

Chuang  tsu,  the  disciple  of  Lao  tsu,  and  equally 
profound  in  his  utterances,  advances  the  same  idea 
as  to  the  priority  of  this  Universal  Law.  Here  are 
his  words : 

''This  is  Law,  it  has  emotion  and  sincerity,  but  it 
does  nothing  and  is  without  bodily  form.  It  can  be 
transmitted  yet  not  received ;  it  can  be  apprehended, 
yet  not  seen.  It  is  itself  the  origin  and  the  root 
(i,  e.,  self -existent) .  Before  there  were  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  there  it  was,  securely  persisting.  By 
it  there  came  the  mysterious  existence  of  the  spirits, 
and  the  mysterious  existence  of  God.  It  produced 
the  heavens;  it  produced  the  earth.  It  was  before 
the  Great  Extreme  (or  the  first  cause),  yet  may  not 
be  deemed  high.  It  was  beneath  the  Great  Extreme, 
yet  may  not  be  deemed  deep.  It  was  before  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  were  produced,  yet  may  not 
be  deemed  of  long  time.  It  grew  up  in  highest  an- 
tiquity, yet  may  not  be  deemed  old."  This  is  like  the 
Biblical  expression,  "A  thousand  years  in  Thy  sight 
are  but  as  yesterday;  from  everlasting  to  everlast- 
ing Thou  art  God." 

The  first  chapter  of  the  Classic  of  Lao  tsu  starts 
off  with  a  most  concise  statement  of  Tao  or  Law,  dis- 
tinguishing two  kinds.  The  one  is  everlasting,  the 
nameless,  the  ineffable ;  the  other  is  not  everlasting, 
and  bears  a  name.  From  other  passages  we  learn 
that  one  is  Heaven's  Law,  and  the  other  Man's  Law, 
but  that  man  to  attain  to  highest  Virtue  must  con- 
form himself,  not  to  his  own  ideas,  but  to  the  Law 
of  God,  written  on  the  heart. 


:U        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

This  distinction  in  the  idea  of  Law,  the  two  as- 
pects of  one  and  the  same  Law,  is  that  Law  has  its 
eternal  and  God-ward  side,  full  of  mystery  and  lim- 
itless, and  also  appears  in  Time,  is  manifested  in 
the  phenomena  of  Nature,  and  has  a  Man-ward  side, 
capable  of  being  comprehended,  and  with  definite 
limits  and  outward  conditions. 

Thus  the  first  chapter  says :  "Law  which  can  be 
made  into  laws  is  not  the  eternal  Law.  The  Name 
which  can  be  named  (i.  e.,  used  on  human  lips  and 
which  is  an  interpretation  of  the  eternal  Law)  is  not 
the  everlasting  Name.  The  Nameless  one  is  the  be- 
ginning of  the  heavens  and  the  earth ;  the  Nameable 
one  is  the  mother  of  the  material  world.*^ 

These  and  other  expressions  cannot  but  attract 
the  Christian  and  should  command  his  appreciation. 
Though  the  Tao  of  Lao  tsu  has  not  the  same  mean- 
ing as  the  Logos  of  St.  John,  also  translated  into 
Chinese  as  Tao,  yet  this  two-fold  aspect  of  Tao  or 
Law  in  the  Taoist  Classic  is  like  the  two-fold  aspect 
of  God  as  taught  by  the  Apostle  John.  '*In  the  be- 
ginning was  the  Logos,  and  the  Logos  was  with  God, 
and  the  Logos  was  God.  All  things  were  made  by 
Him.  And  the  Logos  became  flesh."  Thus  God  on 
the  one  side  is  mystery,  the  unknowable;  on  the 
other.  He  is  a  manifestation  and  known.  The  Logos 
is  God  in  the  aspect  of  being  revealed,  culminating 
in  a  human  incarnation.  According  to  the  Taoist 
idea.  Law  has  these  two-fold  aspects,  both  of  which, 
but  especially  the  aspect  of  manifestation,  are  con- 
cerned in  bringing  the  material  universe  into  being. 
The  Taoist  teaching  moreover,  like  that  of  Confu- 
cianism, being  based  on  traditions,  is  that  the  world 


TAOISM.  35 

was  not  created,  but  passed  through  a  process  of 
evolution  or  emanation.  In  any  case,  the  fundamen- 
tal teaching  is  that  the  heavens  and  the  earth  and 
all  the  universe  of  nature  are  not  everlastin;  only 
Law  or  God  is  everlasting.  Only  Law,  only  God,  is 
from  the  beginning,  and  all  else  has  come  therefrom. 
The  cosmogony  of  Lao  tsu  does  not  explain  the 
method  of  the  world's  origin ;  it  states  the  fact  with- 
out any  explanation.  Law  reveals  itself  in  all  the 
works  of  nature  and  in  every  individual  being,  and 
yet  it  existed  before  nature  and  Man  came  into  ex- 
istence. "It  is  not  merely  imminent;  it  is  super- 
natural and  pre-natural." 

Another  remarkable  expression  in  the  Taoist  Clas- 
sic is  this  one :  ''Heaven  and  earth,  and  all  material 
things,  are  born  from  Being  and  Being  is  born  from 
Non-Being."  In  thi  sthe  idea  seems  to  be,  first  of 
all,  and  which  is  intelligible,  that  all  materiality 
comes  from  immateriality,  and  the  concrete  from 
the  abstract.  Elsewhere  it  is  said  that  this  universe 
comes  from  Universal  Law,  which  continues  to  abide 
in  all  the  universe,  imparting  to  all  things  and  all 
men  a  particular  and  distinctive  character.  From 
this  passage  there  seems  to  be  implied  that  this  im- 
materiality or  this  universal  Law  bears  within  itself 
a  distinction,  called  Being  and  Non-Being,  or  Ex- 
istence and  Non-Existence.  Before  this  material 
universe  came  into  shape,  there  was  an  unseen,  im- 
mutable and  omnipresent  Law,  which  is  like  Kant's 
pure  form  or  Plato's  "Ideas",  but  even  this  has  a 
higher  and  lower  state,  the  latter  called  Being  and 
the  former  still  more  intangible  and  spiritual,  de- 
nominated as  the  great  Nothing,  as  pure  Non-Being. 


36        A  ghristian'b  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

In  this  highest  of  all  states  the  last  vestige  of  any- 
thing material  has  disappeared. 

Whilst  thus  distinguished  as  Being  and  Non- 
Being  there  is  only  One,  called  the  eternal  and  Uni- 
versal Law.  Thus  in  the  Confucian  philosophy  there 
is  the  Great  Extreme  or  First  Cause  and  the  Abso- 
lute or  Limitless,  but  the  two  are  One. 

The  high  spiritual,  and  deeply  mysterious  charac- 
ter of  Tao  or  Law  is  brought  out  in  another  remark- 
able passage : — 

"Looking  for  it,  but  yet  invisible — it  may  be 
named  Colourless.  Listened  for,  but  yet  inaudible — 
it  may  be  named  Soundless.  Grasping  for  it,  but 
yet  never  attained — it  may  be  named  Subtle.  These 
three  cannot  be  analysed;  they  blend  and  become 
one.  .  .  .  Forever  and  continuously  it  remains 
the  Nameless ;  it  is  ever  reverting  into  the  immate- 
rial. It  may  be  called  the  Form  of  the  formless,  the 
Image  of  the  Imageless ;  it  may  be  called,  the  tran- 
scendentally  Abstruse.** 

Here,  then,  is  pure  form;  here  is  Spirituality, 
transcendental  and  elusive,  though  the  words 
"spirit'*  and  "breath"  as  used  in  the  most  ancient 
books  are  here  not  used  in  the  Taoist  Classic.  The 
whole  universe,  and  even  God,  become  absorbed  in 
the  Oneness  of  an  infinite  Ideal. 

Chuang  tsu,  the  noted  disciple  of  Lao  tsu,  has  also 
the  following  reference: 

"Tao — Law — is  without  beginning  and  without 
end.  Material  things  are  born  and  die,  they  are 
never  permanent,  but  now  for  better  and  now  for 
worse,  they  are  ceaselessly  changing  form." 

The  difference  here  described  is  that  between  the 


TAOISM.  37 

material  and  the  immaterial;  the  former  is  tem- 
porary or  at  least  had  a  beginning,  the  latter  is  from 
everlasting  to  everlasting,  without  beginning  and 
without  end. 

This  distinction  between  materiality  and  imma- 
teriality, between  the  visible  resultant  and  the  pri- 
maeval, Spiritual  cause,  or  eternal  and  Universal 
Law,  is  the  most  valuable  truth  which  Taoism  un- 
folds in  a  great  variety  of  expressions. 

To  the  Christian  there  is  something  unsatisfying 
in  the  failure  to  lay  the  same  emphasis  on  God  as  on 
God's  Law.  Still,  there  are  a  few  sentences  which 
may  be  quoted  from  Chuang  tsu.  In  one  place  we 
have  these  words : 

''Human  knowledge  is  limited,  and  yet  by  going 
on  to  what  he  does  not  know,  m_an  com_es  to  know 
what  is  m_eant  by  Heaven  or  God.  He  knows  him 
as  the  Great  Mystery;  he  knows  him.  as  the  Great 
Illuminator;  he  knows  him  as  the  Great  Equitable; 
he  knows  him  as  the  Great  Infinite;  he  knows  him_ 
as  the  Great  Hope ;  he  knows  him  as  the  Great  Des= 
tiny— this  is  ultimate  knowledge.  The  Great  Unity 
is  everywhere,  .  .  .  the  Great  Destiny  is  to  be  de- 
pended upon.  The  ultimate  end  is  God.  By  con- 
formity comes  enlightenment.  He  is  the  revolving 
centre.    He  is  the  beginning/' 

In  another  passage  this  religious  philosopher 
says : 

"From  of  old  the  comprehension  of  Law  must  be 
preceded  by  a  comprehension  of  Heaven  or  God. 
Then  follow  all  laws  and  virtues,  and  after  a  com- 
prehension of  law  and  virtue  (religious  and  moral 


38        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

truth)  come  the  virtues  of  brotherly  love  and  right- 
eousness." 

In  summing  up  this  first  part  of  our  appreciation, 
I  am  inclined  to  make  use  of  the  prologue  of  St. 
John's  Gospel  v^ith  a  change  in  one  word  in  English, 
though  the  same  in  Chinese : 

'*In  the  beginning  was  the  Law  and  the  Law  was 
with  God  and  the  Law  was  God,  the  same  was  in 
the  beginning  with  God.  And  without  Him  was  not 
anything  produced  that  was  produced.  And  the 
Law  was  transformed  into  Nature,  animate  and  in- 
animate, and  we  beheld  its  glory  the  glory  of  the 
highest  emanation  of  God,  full  of  virtue  and  truth." 

Having  fully  discussed  the  deep  meaning  of  Tao 
or  Universal  Law,  as  unfolded  by  Taoism  m.ore  fully 
than  by  any  other  religious  system.,  it  is  easy  to  pass 
on  to  other  features  of  Taoism  which  command  the 
Christian's  appreciation.  These  features  may  be 
considered  less  minutely,  though  their  importance 
must  be  equally  recognized. 

IL 

A  second  reason  for  appreciating  Taoism, 
particularly  from  the  Christian  standpoint,  is  its 
teaching  concerning  Teh  or  virtue.  This  word  of 
supreme  significance  is  joined,  as  it  should  be,  with 
Tao  or  Law.  The  last  quotation  made  under  the 
previous  section  shews  the  gradation  of  thought  as 
understood  by  Taoist  thinkers,  namely,  God,  and 
then  Law,  and  then  complete  moral  character 
summed  up  in  the  two  words  Tao  and  Teh  or  Law 
and  Virtue.    The  two  ideas,  of  Law  and  Virtue,  are 


TAOISM.  39 

linked  together  so  inseparably  that  in  thinking  of 
the  one,  we  must  think  of  the  other. 

The  Chinese  language  has  no  two  words  in  more 
frequent  use  than  Tao  and  Teh — Law  and  Virtue — 
and  they  are  generally  combined  to  mean  moral  and 
religious  truth  and  sometimes  religion.  They  repre- 
sent the  spiritual  and  inner  side  of  religion,  while 
Chiao  or  Teaching,  as  used  in  Confucianism,  repre- 
sents the  scholastic  or  outward  side.  According  to 
Taoism  Virtue  is  the  working  and  manifestation  of 
Law.  Greater  than  this  material  world  as  an  Illus- 
tration of  Law,  is  Virtue.  The  term  used  is  a  com- 
prehensive one  to  include  all  the  virtues.  The  Vir- 
tue used  with  the  word  Law  is  viewed  as  so  impor- 
tant that  the  two  together  form  the  title  of  the  great 
Taoist  Classic.  *'The  appearance  of  com.prehensive 
Virtue,"  said  Lao  tsu,  ''is  none  other  than  conform- 
ity  to  Law.  The  Character  of  Law  is  impalpable 
and  eluding."  Law  is  the  root;  virtue  is  the  fruit- 
age. 

This  difference  in  the  order  of  Law  and  Virtue 
appears  in  another  saying  found  in  the  great  Classic, 

"Law  germinates.  Virtue  nourishes.  Through  the 
material  world  they  are  given  form,  by  the  forces  of 
Nature  they  attain  to  completion.  Therefore 
amongst  all  the  varieties  of  the  universe  nothing 
should  be  so  revered  as  Law  or  so  honoured  as  Vir- 
tue. To  thus  revere  Law  and  honour  Virtue  does 
not  come  through  any  command,  but  ever  arises 
spontaneously.  Hence  the  saying  that  Law  germi- 
nates, whilst  Virtue  nourishes,  brings  up,  feeds, 
brings  to  completion  and  maturity,  rears  and  pro- 
tects.    To  bring  into  being,  but  not  to  own,  to  act 


40        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

but  not  to  rely  on  one's  action,  to  raise  up  but  not 
to  dominate :  this  is  called  profound  Virtue." 

Thus  the  origin  of  all  the  various  forms  of  Vir- 
tue, as  the  origin  of  the  material  universe,  is  eternal 
Law,  but  Virtue,  once  produced,  goes  on  for  ever 
both  in  its  task  of  developing  to  completion  all  hu- 
man character,  and  in  its  various  operations,  from 
beginning  to  end,  of  correct  soul-training. 

As  Tao  or  Law  has  within  itself  a  distinction — 
the  divine  and  the  human,  the  ineffable  and  the 
nameable — so  Virtue  has  a  distinction — the  superior 
and  the  inferior.  The  great  Teacher  after  express- 
ing this  inner  distinction  goes  on  to  show  the  rela- 
tion of  Law  tc  all  Virtues  in  the  following  language : 

"In  losing  Law,  Virtue  is  lost,  In  losing  Virtue, 
brotherly  love  is  lost.  In  losing  brotherly  love, 
righteousness  is  lost.  In  losing  righteousness,  the 
sense  of  propriety  is  lost."  From  this  we  see  that 
every  virtuous  action  must  be  traced  back  to  eternal 
Law,  summed  up  in  the  eternal  God. 

Nothing  is  more  important,  in  the  Taoist  concep- 
tion, than  character  saturated  with  Virtue,  which 
in  turn  is  the  truest  expression  of  the  voice  of  God, 
speaking  imperatively  in  every  human  soul.  Every 
virtuous  characteristic  is  attainable  only  through 
the  possession  of  the  essence  of  Virtue,  which  is  in 
perfect  accord  with  unchanging  Law  or  the  mind  of 
the  Infinite.  So  the  Christian  Scriptures:  "Every 
good  and  perfect  gift  cometh  down  from  the  Father 
of  lights  with  whom  there  is  no  variableness,  neither 
shadow  of  turning.*' 


TAOISM.  41 


III. 


Closely  connected  with  this  teaching  con- 
cerning the  supremacy  of  Virtue  is  the  cognate 
teaching  concerning  placidity  or  passiveness.  The 
teaching  is  unique,  and  full  of  the  highest  truth  and 
greatest  value.  There  are  many  references  in  the 
Taoist  Classic. 

Thus,  from  the  Section  containing  our  last  cita- 
tion, there  may  be  taken  these  lofty  conceptions : 

"Superior  Virtue  is  Non- Virtue  (i.  e.,  does  not  at- 
tempt to  be  virtuous) .  Hence  it  is  real  Virtue.  In- 
ferior Virtue  is  bound  not  to  lose  Virtue  (or  does 
not  lose  sight  of  Virtue) .  Hence  it  never  becomes 
real  Virtue,  Superior  Virtue  is  sim_ply  non=action, 
never  striving  to  act.  Inferior  Virtue  is  action, 
again  and  again  striving  to  act," 

In  Taoism  there  is  used  a  word  almost  as  fre- 
quently as  the  words  which  we  translate  Law  and 
Virtue,  The  words  m_eans  tranquillity,  stillness, 
quiescence.  Here  is  one  of  the  sayings  tersely  ex= 
pressed,  '* Attain  to  com_plete  abstraction,  preserve 
unalloyed  tranquillity."  And  again:  '*In  return  to 
the  root,  this  is  called  tranquillity."  By  this  is 
meant,  that  a  basic  element  of  Virtue  is  tranquillity. 

In  another  section,  the  great  Teacher  says:  "I 
understand  the  advantages  of  inaction,  /.  e.,  non-as- 
sertion. Few  indeed  realize  the  instruction  of 
silence,  and  the  advantage  of  inaction." 

Still  another  section  imparts  instruction  so  con- 
trary to  the  usual  opinion  of  men :  '*In  the  pursuit 
of  Tao  or  Law  one  is  willing  to  decrease,  until  he 
reaches  a  state  of  non-action.    By  non-action  there 


42        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

is  nothing  but  can  be  done.  To  win  the  Empire,  one 
must  always  be  free  of  much  doing.  He  who  is  a 
busy-body  can  never  win  the  country." 

This  quality  of  putting  one's  self  into  a  state  of 
quietness,  but  subject  to  higher  influences,  is  taught 
again  in  these  words: 

"Practice  non-action;  do  the  silent  deed;  have 
ambition  to  be  without  ambition ;  turn  small  things 
into  great ;  make  much  out  of  little." 

The  Sage  or  Holy  Man,  according  to  Taoism,  is 
different  from  the  Confucian  conception.  Lao  tsu 
says:  "The  Holy  Man  abides  by  non-assertion  in 
his  affairs,  and  practises  the  lessons  of  silence." 

Chuang  tsu,  the  disciple  of  Lao  tsu,  adheres  to  the 
same  idea,  though  not  emphasized  to  the  same  de- 
gree. We  cite  one  of  his  sayings:  "What  is  Tao 
or  Law?  There  is  the  Law  of  Heaven  and  the  Law 
of  Man.  Liaction  and  compliance  form  the  Law  of 
Heaven;  action  and  entanglement  the  Law  of  Man. 
The  Law  of  Heaven  is  fundamental,  the  Law  of  Man 
is  accidental.  The  distance  which  separates  them  is 
vast.    Let  us  all  take  heed  thereto." 

Thus  if  man  conforms  to  the  Law  of  Heaven,  he 
will  aspire  after  passivity,  non-assertion,  freedom 
from  useless  exertion  and  troublesome  meddlesome- 
ness. He  will  regard  as  nothing  his  own  deeds,  and 
give  full  play  to  the  inner  working  of  the  Law  of  the 
ages  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Infinite. 

By  a  process  of  non-action,  i.  e.,  by  not  forcing 
one's  self  to  do  a  thing,  one  is  able  to  do  most.  By 
striving,  one  fails  to  reach  the  best  results — this  is 
the  lower  form  of  Virtue.  By  submitting  one's  self 
to  the  internal  operations  of  Law  the  greatest  results 


TAOISM.  43 

are  reached — this  is  the  higher  form  of  Virtue.  It 
is  by  dependence  on  infinite  power,  rather  than  by 
self-assertion  or  personal  exertion,  that  Heaven 
finds  scope  for  carrying  out  action  in  the  soul. 

As  with  the  individual,  so  with  government.  The 
best  way  to  rule  a  people  is  by  having  few  enact- 
ments and  by  silent  influence  that  avoids  stirring  up 
opposition.  Thus  Lao  tsu  says:  "The  method  of 
universal  Law  is  to  work  silently  and  by  this  method 
everything  is  done  by  and  under  Law."  If  kings 
and  rulers  could  only  observe  this  the  whole  world 
could  be  transformed. 

This  feature  of  quietness  is  a  great  charm  of  Tao- 
ism. It  is  like  the  Biblical  expression,  "In  quietude 
and  in  confidence  shall  be  your  strength."  The  true 
Taoist  is  the  opposite  of  a  busj^-body.  He  does  not 
intermeddle  in  the  affairs  of  others,  but  he  per= 
suades  and  enjoins  on  himself  to  submit  to  the  true 
path  and  the  inner  law  of  the  perfect  One. 

Modern  Christianity  with  its  institutionalism  and 
many  organizations,  societies  and  committees,  is 
rather  the  converse  of  such  teachings  as  these  of  the 
Chinese  mystic,  but  a  choice  element  in  Christianity 
through  all  the  ages  has  drawn  instinctively  to  this 
meditative  aspect  of  spiritual  religion,  has  made  use 
of  retreats,  and  has  cultivated  self-abasement  that 
"God  may  be  all  and  in  all."  In  fact  the  best  type 
of  Christian  thought  and  life  is  in  close  agreement 
with  this  fundamental  teaching  of  Taoism. 

IV. 

A  fourth  reason  for  appreciating  Taoism  is 
that  it  teaches  that  modesty  and  reserve  are  superior 


44        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

to  ostentation  and  display.  This  self-abasement  is 
but  an  element  in  placidity  and  non-action,  as  they 
in  turn  are  a  form  of  Virtue.  Lao  tsu  says,  *'Who 
tiptoes,  totters.  Who  straddles,  stumbles.  The  self- 
displaying  man  cannot  shine.  An  egotistic  man  is 
not  distinguished.  One  who  praises  himself  has  no 
merit.  The  self-conceited  cannot  excel/'  The  idea 
is  that  one  must  hide  himself  under  the  cover  of 
Law  and  Virtue,  which  are  perfect,  satisfying,  eter- 
nal and  pervasive.  The  one  who  pushes  himself  for- 
ward is  apt  to  diminish  the  glory  and  effectiveness 
of  the  Supreme  and  Infinite.  This  is  like  the  Chris- 
tian saying,  **He  that  is  first  shall  be  last." 

One  more  saying  of  Lao  tsu,  very  similar  to  the 
one  already  quoted,  still  further  substantiates  this 
truth :  ''The  Holy  Man  embraces  unity  and  becomes 
the  world's  model.  He  is  not  self=displaying  and 
thus  he  shines.  He  is  not  egotistic,  and  thus  he  is 
distinguished.  He  does  not  praise  him_self,  and  thus 
he  has  merit.  He  is  not  self-conceited,  and  thus  he 
excels."  These  are  sentim_ents  closely  allied  with  the 
sayings  of  Christ,  and  we  may  well  say,  "They  are 
hard  to  hear."  None  the  less  they  are  great  spirit- 
ual truths. 


A  fifth  teaching  which  every  Christian  can 
appreciate  is  that  it  is  the  weak  who  are  to  conquer 
the  strong.  One  of  Lao  tsu's  sayings  is  this:  "In 
the  world  nothing  is  so  delicate  and  flexible  as  water, 
yet  for  attacking  that  which  is  hard  and  strong, 
nothing  surpasses  it.    There  is  nothing  that  can  take 


TAOISM.  45 

its  place.  The  weak  conquer  the  strong,  the  tender 
conquer  the  hard.  Every  one  knows  this,  but  no 
one  practises  it."  This  is  like  the  saying  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  ''God  chose  the  weak  things  of  the 
world  that  he  might  put  to  shame  the  things  that  are 
strong,  and  the  base  things  of  the  world,  and  the 
things  that  are  despised  did  God  choose,  yea,  and 
the  things  that  are  not,  that  he  might  bring  to 
naught  the  things  that  are."  This  teaching  fits  in 
with  the  two  previous  ones  concerning  quietness  and 
self-effacement,  non-action  and  modesty. 

VI. 

This  exaltation  of  weakness  over  all  brute 
force,  of  the  delicate  over  hardness,  fits  in  with  the 
sixth  feature  of  Taoism,  viz.,  that  peace  is  better 
than  strife.  There  are  several  passages  illustrat- 
ing this  idea.  One  is  as  follows :  "He  who  by  the 
aid  of  eternal  Law  assists  the  ruler  of  men,  does  not 
rely  on  arms  to  conquer  the  world.  Where  armies 
are  quartered,  there  briars  and  thorns  grow  up. 
After  a  great  war  there  comes  the  year  of  famine. 
A  good  man  is  determined,  and  goes  no  further.  He 
ventures  not  to  take  by  force." 

Again  Lao  tsu  says,  "Even  beautiful  arms  cannot 
make  them  auspicious  weapons.  Even  inanimate 
Nature  despises  them.  Hence,  he  who  follows  the 
laws  of  the  universe  has  nothing  to  do  with  them. 
Soldiers  are  instruments  of  ill  omen,  they  are  not 
agents  for  the  Princely  Man.  Only  when  it  is  un- 
avoidable does  he  use  them.  What  he  prizes  most  is 
quiet  and  peace.    He  will  not  praise  a  victory.    To 


46        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

praise  a  victory  means  to  rejoice  in  the  slaughter  of 
men."  Further  on  in  the  same  section  he  adds: 
"The  slayer  of  multitudes  should  bitterly  weep  and 
lament." 

These  remarkable,  most  unusual,  well  nigh  unbe- 
lievable, teachings  of  the  great  Taoist  Teacher  stand 
forth  with  distinctness,  a  message  to  the  world  as 
well  as  to  China.  The  very  last  sentence  in  the  Tao- 
ist Classic  sums  it  all  up  in  these  words :  'The  Law 
of  the  Holy  Man  is  to  act  but  not  to  strive."  Whilst 
elsewhere  the  idea  is  one  of  non-action,  the  idea  here 
seems  to  be  that  whilst  non-action  is  the  ideal,  yet 
if  one  must  act,  he  must  not  go  so  far  as  to  strive ; 
or  possibly  the  idea  is,  that  whilst  the  Holy  Man — 
a  model  to  all  others — must  place  himself  in  a  state 
of  passivity,  full  scope  is  given  to  the  Law  of  Heaven 
to  act  in  and  through  him,  but  never  to  the  extent  of 
strife,  struggle  or  warfare. 

We  seem  to  hear  the  words  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
prophet,  as  he  looked  forward  to  the  coming  One: 
*'He  shall  not  strive  nor  cry  aloud."  We  seem  to 
face  in  another  form  the  gentle,  forgiving  spirit  of 
Christ — the  great  Logos  appearing  in  China  before 
He  appeared  in  Judea. 

VIL 

A  seventh  attractive  feature  of  Taoism  is 
that  it  teaches  our  duty  to  be  good  to  all.  Thus  Lao 
tsu  says,  ''The  good  I  meet  with  goodness,  the  bad  I 
also  meet  with  goodness;  goodness  is  Virtue.  The 
faithful  I  meet  with  faithfulness,  and  the  faithless 
I  meet  with  faithfulness.     Faithfulness  is  Virtue." 


TAOISM  47 

Thus  Christ  in  many  ways  taught  that  we  should 
love  those  that  hate  as  well  as  those  who  love,  even 
as  God's  love  goes  to  the  good  and  the  bad  alike. 
Lao  tsu  in  one  clause  of  only  four  characters  says 
we  should  ''requite  hatred  with  virtue,"  like  the 
Biblical  saying,  ''Recompense  evil  with  good." 

This  teaching  is  the  highest  form  of  all  human 
teaching;  it  brings  the  Law  which  governs  God  into 
the  activities  of  Man — God's  grace  and  man's  love, 
universal  in  their  scope,  without  discrimination  or 
partiality. 

VIIL 

An  eighth  attraction  is  the  teaching  con- 
cerning immortality.  There  in  one  sentence  in  Lao 
tsu's  Classic,  viz:  "One  may  die  but  not  perish — 
this  is  everlasting  life."  In  many  ways  Taoism  has 
brought  to  human  hearts  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  by 
the  hope  perpetually  taught  of  life  after  death,  life 
immortal  and  life  with  a  spiritualized  body. 

The  Taoist  looks  forward  to  the  dwelling  of  the 
Immortals;  the  Christian  looks  forward  to  eternal 
life.  The  Taoist  believes  that  through  proper  train- 
ing life  becomes  perpetual;  the  Christian  realizes 
that  time  is  only  a  part  of  Eternity,  and  that  death 
is  only  a  passing  from  a  lower  form  of  existence  to 
a  higher.  Both  Taoism  and  Christianity  have  the 
hope  of  immortality  and  the  thought  of  a  spiritual 
body  of  flesh  and  blood,  of  animal  passions  and  re- 
stricted capabilities.  Both  are  cheered  by  the  belief 
that  in  the  future  life  one  passes  from  earth  into 


48        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

the  greater  power  conditions  of  God's  great  uni- 
verse. 

IX. 

The  last  feature  of  Taoism  which  the  Christian 
can  appreciate  is  that  he  who  does  right — he 
who  follows  Law  and  possesses  Virtue — need  fear 
no  harm.  '^Venemous  reptiles  do  not  sting  him, 
fierce  beasts  do  not  seize  him,  birds  of  prey  do  not 
strike  him.'' 

Chuang  tsu  has  also  words  of  consolation  for  the 
good  man,  in  the  face  of  threatened  danger :  "The 
man  of  perfect  virtue  cannot  be  burnt  by  fire,  nor 
drowned  in  water,  nor  hurt  by  frost  or  sun,  nor  torn 
by  wild  bird  or  beast.  Happy  under  prosperous  and 
adverse  circumstances  alike,  cautious  as  to  what  he 
discards  and  what  he  accepts — nothing  can  harm 
him." 

Many  passages  in  the  Scriptures,  especially  in 
Psalms,  have  the  same  lesson  of  hope  and  confidence. 
He  who  does  the  will  of  God  has  God's  protection 
and  need  fear  no  harm.  Thus  the  Psalmist  has 
spoken  his  message  of  consolation,  which  has  stayed 
the  souls  of  martyrs.  "There  shall  no  evil  befall 
thee,  neither  shall  any  plague  come  nigh  thy  tent, 
for  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  over  thee,  to 
keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways.  They  shall  bear  thee  up 
in  their  hands,  lest  thou  dash  thy  foot  against  a 
stone.  Thou  shalt  tread  upon  the  lion  and  adder; 
the  young  lion  and  the  serpent  shalt  thou  trample 
under  feet." 

These  nine  specifications  of  Taoist  teachings  can- 
not  but   awaken   surprise   and   admiration   in  the 


TAOISM  49 

thought  of  the  Christian  and  particularly  of  the 
Christian  missionary.  The  Christian  should  give 
thanks  to  God  for  thus  imparting  so  many  truths  to 
the  people  of  China,  through  all  these  centuries  of 
the  past. 

Lao  tsu  as  a  person  is  wrapped  in  uncertainty,  but 
a  benign  influence  has  flowed  forth  from  his  life, 
made  articulate  in  his  words,  which  form  a  gem  in 
Chinese  literature.  Whatever  be  the  defects  in  the 
followers  of  Lao  tsu,  as  in  the  followers  of  Christ, 
our  admiration  goes  forth  to  both  Lao  tsu  and  Christ, 
and  we  believe  in  perfect  confidence  that  their  good- 
ness, or  grace,  or  truth,  or  gentleness,  all  come  from 
God,  "to  whom  be  all  the  glory." 


CHAPTER  III 
BUDDHISM,   AN  APPRECIATION 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  give  a  complete  exposition 
of  Buddhism,  but  an  appreciation.  The  courteous, 
and  also  the  most  beneficial,  thing  to  be  done  by  the 
follower  of  one  religion  in  reference  to  another  re- 
ligion is  to  point  out  the  excellences,  not  the  defects, 
of  the  other.  This  is  like  looking  in  the  light  and  at 
the  light,  rather  than  trying  to  peer  into  darkness. 
There  is  much  in  Buddhism  which  a  Christian  in 
good  reason  should  heartily  appreciate  and  openly 
recognize.  If  Buddhist  teachings  or  practices  are 
bad,  it  is  more  becoming  to  let  the  Buddhist  himself 
point  out  what  they  are. 

An  unknown  writer  of  a  striking  book,  entitled 
''The  Creed  of  Buddha,''  companion  of  'The  Creed 
of  Christ,"  after  referring  to  current  charges 
against  Buddhism,  that  it  is  materialistic,  atheistic, 
pessimistic,  egotistic  and  nihilistic,  asks,  "Can  these 
charges  be  substantiated?  If  they  can,"  the  writer 
says,  "we  are  confronted  by  the  most  perplexing  of 
all  problems.  How  comes  it  that  a  religion  which 
has  such  vital  defects  has  had  such  a  successful  ca- 
reer? That  Buddha  won  to  his  will  the  'deepest 
heart'  of  the  Far  East  is  undeniable.  Was  it  by 
preaching  the  gospel  of  materialism,  of  atheism,  of 
pessimism,  of  egoism,  of  nihilism,  that  he  achieved 
this  signal  triumph? 

50 


BUDDHISM  51 

To  our  mind  there  has  plainly  been  a  misconcep- 
tion of  Buddhism,  but  instead  of  answering  one  by 
one  these  charges,  we  will  adopt  the  positive  and 
constructive  method,  and  point  out  one  by  one  those 
features  of  Buddhism  which  impress  us  as  being 
vital  and  paramount,  and  of  which  the  Christian 
can  justifiably  express  appreciation. 

A  REFORMING  RELIGION 
I. 

Buddhism  has  always  been  a  reforming  reli- 
gion, just  as  Christ  was  a  reformer  in  Judaism,  and 
Huss  and  Luther  and  Knox  and  Cranmer  were  re- 
formers in  the  Christian  Church  under  the  leader- 
ship of  the  Pope  of  Rome.  Its  beginning  in  India 
by  Sakyamuni  was  as  a  reformation  in  Brahmanism. 
It  was  a  protest  against  ceremonialism,  the  caste 
system,  and  excessive  asceticism.  It  attempted  to 
bring  the  essential  ideas  of  Brahmanism  into  life. 
Brahmanism  ever  since  has  been  different  from 
what  it  was  before.  Sakyamuni  in  his  own  life  rep- 
resented the  reforming  spirit.  He  began  his  career 
as  a  religious  devotee  by  practising  asceticism. 
Finding  this  unsatisfactory,  as  being  too  selfish,  he 
went  forth  into  the  busy  world  and  for  forty  years 
preached  and  taught,  practised  and  did  good  with 
thought  of  others  more  than  of  self. 

Five  hundred  years  later  Northern  or  New  Bud- 
dhism made  its  appearance.  This  is  known  as  the 
Mahayani  branch  of  Buddhism  or  the  Great  Vehicle, 
with  many  new  elements.  The  new  teacher  was 
Ashvagosha,  during  the  reign  of  the  Mogul  Emperor, 


52        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

Kanishka.  This  is  the  reforming  branch  that  has 
spread  through  China  and  Japan.  In  its  entrance 
into  Japan,  it  took  on  other  reforming  principles,  as 
illustrated  in  the  Pure  Land  School.  Since  contact 
with  Christianity,  the  Buddhism  of  Japan  has  taken 
on  other  reforming  ideas,  and  it  is  this  branch  which 
is  anxious  to  extend  its  missionary  activities  to 
China.  Buddhism  is  thus  far  from  being  an  un- 
changing Faith,  but  advances  with  the  knowledge 
of  the  ages  and  adapts  itself  to  the  varied  conditions 
of  men. 

PROBLEM  OF  SUFFERING. 
II. 

Buddhism,  whether  of  the  Primitive  or  Mod- 
ern School  of  thought,  is  conspicuous  for  its  sympa- 
thetic realization  of  human  suffering  and  its  pur- 
pose to  help  to  transform  suffering  into  happiness 
and  peace.  In  familiar  Chinese  phraseology  this 
world  is  called  a  world  of  "the  bitter  sea,"  which  is 
to  be  changed  into  a  world  of  "Paradise".  Bud- 
dhism does  not  attempt  to  close  its  eyes  to  the  sor- 
rows, the  miseries,  the  calamities,  and  the  sufferings 
of  this  world  and  of  life.  Neither  does  it  view  them 
with  cold  unconcern,  or  with  stern  fatalism,  but 
with  pity,  united  with  the  purpose  to  give  relief  and 
bring  about  happiness.  The  Buddha,  like  the  Christ, 
was  touched  with  the  feeling  of  man*s  infirmities; 
he,  too,  was  "acquainted  with  grief". 

A  mere  kindly  reference  to  human  suffering  in- 
stinctively arouses  a  response;  it  is  sorrow  which 


BUDDHISM  53 

is  the  fellow-feeling  that  unites  men  together.  So, 
too,  the  desire  for  happiness — desire  to  escape  from 
suffering — is  universal.  He  who  presents  the  pos- 
sibility of  happiness  also  arouses  a  response.  The 
very  dream  of  happiness  is  soothing.  Jesus  began 
his  first  Sermon  on  the  Mount  with  eight  beatitudes. 
Sakyamuni,  too,  spoke  much  of  happiness  as  well  as 
of  suffering.  Happiness  took  on  its  peculiar  type 
from  its  connexion  with  suffering.  The  joy  of  Bud- 
dhism is  always  "the  joy  of  tears".  This  gives  to 
happiness  an  element  of  tenderness  which  has 
strongly  appealed  to  the  Oriental  mind. 

Sakyamuni  has  many  references  to  suffering.  One 
citation  is  as  follows:  "Birth  is  suffering;  old  age 
is  suffering ;  disease  is  suffering ;  sorrow  and  misery 
are  suffering ;  to  be  united  with  loathsome  things  is 
suffering;  the  loss  of  that  which  we  love  and  the 
failure  in  attaining  that  which  is  longed  for  are  suf- 
fering; all  these  things,  0  brethren,  are  suffering." 
Again  he  speaks  very  much  in  Ecclesiastes,  "Every- 
thing is  transient  and  nothing  endures.  There  is 
birth  and  death,  growth  and  decay;  there  is  combi- 
nation and  separation.  The  glory  of  the  world  is 
like  a  flower ;  it  stands  in  full  bloom  in  the  morning 
and  fades  in  the  heat  of  the  day." 

The  message  of  joy  and  hope,  the  Gospel,  which 
Buddha  brings,  has  this  refrain:  "Ye  that  suffer 
from  the  tribulations  of  life,  ye  that  have  to  struggle 
and  endure,  ye  that  yearn  for  a  life  of  truth,  rejoice 
at  the  glad  tidings.  There  is  balm  for  the  wounded, 
and  there  is  bread  for  the  hungry.  There  is  water 
for  the  thirsty,  and  there  is  inexhaustible  blessing 
for  the  upright." 


54        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

These  two  ideas  of  suffering  and  happiness,  com- 
plementary to  each  other,  are  brought  out  even  more 
effectively  in  the  Mahayana  School,  to  which  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese  are  mostly  devoted.  The 
most  popular  object  of  worship  is  Kuan  Yin,  called 
the  Goddess  of  Mercy,  who  "saves  from  suffering 
and  saves  from  misery",  an  expression  current 
amongst  the  people  of  both  nations.  So  'The  Awak- 
ening of  Faith",  the  great  classic  of  modern  Bud- 
dhism, in  answer  to  the  question,  as  to  why  the  book 
is  written,  makes  this  reply,  "It  is  to  induce  all 
living  beings  to  leave  the  path  of  sorrow  and  to 
obtain  the  highest  happiness,  rather  than  to  seek 
the  glitter  of  fame  and  the  wealth  of  the  world." 
The  book  closes  with  this  Hymn: 

"Deep  and  wide  are  Buddhist  laws : 
These  in  brief  I  have  declared, 
God-ward  are  eternal  stores. 
Blessings  give  to  countless  worlds." 

Instead  of  Nirvana,  suited  to  the  philosophic  tem- 
perament of  India,  these  other  peoples  of  the  Far 
East  look  forward  to  a  Paradise  in  the  West  or  to 
the  Pure  Land,  where  happiness  has  overcome  all 
sorrow,  where  purity  and  blessedness,  charity  and 
peace,  reign  together. 

COMPASSION 

III. 

A  third  ground  of  appreciation  is  that  which 
characterizes  Buddhism  more  than  anything 
else,  namely,  compassion.     Brotherly  love  of  fra- 


BUDDHISM  55 

ternity  in  Confucianism,  is  cold.  Compassion  in 
Buddhism  is  warm  and  moving.  The  Buddha  once 
said,  amongst  sayings  of  the  same  type,  'The  chari- 
table man  is  loved  by  all.  Hard  it  is  to  understand. 
By  giving  away  our  food,  we  get  more  strength ;  by 
bestowing  clothing  on  others,  we  gain  more  beauty ; 
by  founding  abodes  of  purity  and  truth,  we  acquire 
great  treasures." 

Again,  when  the  Buddha  was  visited  by  one  of  the 
Indian  kings,  who  came  in  his  royal  equipage,  these 
words  of  wisdom  were  spoken:  "That  which  is 
most  needed  is  a  loving  heart.  Regard  your  people 
as  an  only  son.  Do  not  oppress  them ;  do  not  destroy 
them;  keep  in  due  check  every  member  of  your 
body;  forsake  unrighteous  doctrine  and  walk  in  the 
straight  path;  do  not  exalt  yourself  by  trampling 
upon  others.    Comfort  and  befriend  the  suffering." 

Another  saying  is  this:  '^Hatred  does  not  cease 
by  hatred  at  any  time;  hatred  ceases  by  love — this 
is  an  old  rule."  This  element,  or  rather  the  essence, 
of  Buddhism — this  compassion — is  specially  illus- 
trated in  the  New  Buddhism  by  the  Buddha  Am- 
itabha,  and  by  the  subordinate  divinity  Kuan  Yin. 
This  latter  divinity,  or  bodishat,  has  had  more  of  a 
following  than  even  any  of  the  Buddhas  because 
regarded  as  the  personification  of  pity  to  suffering 
humanity.  To  one  who  looks  upon  the  suffering  of 
the  world  with  a  heart  of  compassion,  we  instinc- 
tively yield  homage  and  love,  whatever  the  plan 
which  compassion  adopts  to  show  itself  forth  in 
escaping  from  suffering  or  in  removing  it. 

Thus  Buddhism,  whether  ancient  or  modern,  and 
whatever  its  philosophic  conceptions,  has  for  cen- 


56        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

turies  been  a  power  in  the  Orient  because  it  repre- 
sents human  pity.  It  is  pity  rather  than  philosophy 
which  characterizes  Buddhism.  Amongst  all  the 
religious  Teachers  of  the  world,  the  Christ  and  the 
Buddha  stand  forth  as  the  embodiment  of  love, 
which  feels  for  other's  woes  and  yearns  to  provide 
deliverance. 

SALVATION 

IV. 

This  idea  of  deliverance  or  salvation  is  the 
other  prevailing  power  of  Buddhism.  It  is  joined 
with  compassion,  as  compassion  is  joined  with  suf- 
fering. Compassion  has  meaning  only  by  its  power 
to  save  mankind  from  suffering.  To  pity  without 
the  heart  or  the  power  to  save  soon  becomes  a  mock- 
ery and  works  its  own  destruction.  It  is  in  seeking 
to  save  mankind  from  all  forms  of  misery  and  sor- 
row that  Buddhism  is  akin  to  Christianity,  and  it  is 
of  these  three  aspects  of  Buddhism  that  the  Christian 
must  feel  appreciation. 

Thus  the  full  expression  of  Kuan  Yin  is  *'The 
Merciful  and  Compassionate,  who  saves  from  suffer- 
ing and  saves  from  misery."  All  the  Buddhas  like- 
wise receive  prayer,  adoration  and  trust  as  being 
the  ones  who  can  effect  salvation.  The  great  Buddha 
in  his  early  life  pointed  out  what  lay  at  the  bottom 
of  suffering,  namely,  desire  or  passion,  craving  for 
more  than  is  right.  It  may  be  lust  for  money,  for 
fame ;  it  may  be  the  indulgence  of  one's  passions ;  it 
may  be  a  form  of  discontent.  Therefore,  to  save 
men  from  suffering,  they  must  be  saved  from  pas- 


BUDDHISM  57 

sion  or  wrong  desire.    Buddhism  thus  goes  down  to 
the  root  of  all  human  trouble. 

The  Buddha,  having  stated  the  forms  of  suffering, 
then  asks  and  answers  three  questions : 

1.  **What  is  the  origin  of  suffering?  It  is  lust, 
passion,  and  the  thirst  for  existence  that  yearns  for 
pleasure  everywhere,  leading  to  a  continual  rebirth. 
It  is  sensuality,  desire,  selfishness;  all  these  things 
are  the  origin  of  suffering." 

2.  "What  is  the  annihilation  of  suffering?  It  is 
the  radical  and  total  annihilation  of  this  thirst,  the 
abandonment,  the  liberation,  the  deliverance  from 
this  passion." 

3.  "What  is  the  path  that  leads  to  the  annihila- 
tion of  suffering?  It  is  the  holy  eightfold  path,"  and 
he  then  proceeds  to  the  enumeration  of  eight  forms 
of  virtue,  eight  aspects  of  good  character. 

In  saving  men  from  their  passions  and  so  from 
suffering.  Ancient  Buddhism  and  the  New  Bud- 
dhism have  provided  different  methods.  According 
to  the  former  there  is  an  eightfold  path  of  deliver- 
ence,  summed  up  in  being  good — right  faith,  right 
resolve,  right  speech,  right  action,  right  living,  right 
effort,  right  thought,  and  right  meditation. 

In  the  New  Buddhism,  especially  of  the  Pure 
Land  School  of  Japan,  salvation  comes  from  without, 
from  above,  from  one  of  the  Buddhas  or  one  of  the 
Bodishats.  One's  own  efforts  are  insufficient  to 
bring  to  an  end  all  the  suffering  of  the  world.  In 
Buddhism,  as  in  Christianity,  there  must  be  a  divine 
Saviour.  Whilst  Ancient  Buddhism  taught  salva- 
tion by  good  works  the  New  Buddhism  has  taught 
salvation  by  faith.     In  both,  the  predominant  note 


58        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

is  salvation,  which  issues  from  the  heart  of  compas- 
sion. 


A  RIGHTEOUS  LIFE 
V. 

A  fifth  reason  for  appreciating  Buddhism  is 
the  emphasis  placed  on  a  righteous  life.  This  is 
true  both  in  ancient  Buddhism  and  in  the  New  Bud- 
dhism, but  more  particularly  in  the  former,  as  pro- 
viding the  only  way  of  salvation.  The  point  of  in- 
terest is  that  a  righteous  life  means  not  so  much 
righteous  conduct  as  a  righteous  soul,  righteousness 
within  as  essential  to  righteousness  without.  In 
the  rightfold  path,  five  of  the  eight  requirements 
relate  to  actions  of  the  heart.  The  righteousness  of 
Buddhism  is  of  the  whole  man.  The  teaching  is  not 
so  much  to  do  right  as  to  he  right.  ''Buddha,"  as 
one  has  written,  "lays  as  much  stress  on  the  inward 
as  on  the  outward  side  of  morality;  and  he  would 
have  us  realize  that  conduct,  when  divorced  from 
faith  and  thought  and  purpose,  is  worth  nothing." 

One  of  the  simplest  exhortations,  understood  by 
all,  reads  thus : 

''Abstain  from  all  evil. 

In  all  things  act  virtuously, 

Be  pure  in  mind : 

This  is  the  religion  of  the  Buddhas." 

Sakyamuni,  in  his  forty  and  more  years  of  public 
preaching,  ever  exhorting  his  fellow-men  not  only 
to  do  good  but  to  be  good,  traced  suffering  back  to 
evil  as  he  traced  it  back  to  wrong  desire,  and  happi- 


BUDDHISM  59 

ness  back  to  goodness  as  he  had  traced  it  back  to  the 
subjugation  of  all  passion,  to  complete  self-control. 
Thus  he  said :  "If  a  man  speaks  or  acts  with  an  evil 
thought,  pain  follows  him  as  the  wheel  follows  the 
foot  of  the  ox  that  draws  the  carriage."  And  again : 
"If  a  man  commits  a  sin,  let  him  not  do  it  again ;  let 
him  not  delight  in  sin;  pain  is  the  outcome  of  evil. 
If  a  man  does  what  is  good,  let  him  do  it  again;  let 
him  delight  in  it;  happiness  is  the  outcome  of  good." 
The  exhortations  of  Buddhism  to  a  life  of  good- 
ness are  without  number.  They  appear  in  philo- 
sophic language,  but  more  often  in  plain  speech  to 
reach  all.  The  distinct  aim  of  Buddhism  is  to  bring 
about  goodness  in  the  world,  and  so  to  remove  un- 
worthy desires  and  to  be  freed  from  suffering.  As 
deliverance  comes  from  compassion,  so  a  righteous 
life  is  summed  up  in  being  compassionate.  This  is 
the  way  to  remove  suffering  from  the  world. 

VI. 

A  sixth  reason  for  appreciating  Buddhism 
is  because  of  its  wise  method  of  building  up  charac- 
ter, viz.,  to  have  only  a  few  positive  commandments, 
but  many  prohibitions.  In  the  higher  stages  of  de- 
velopment, whether  intellectual  or  spiritual,  the 
negative  gives  place  to  the  positive,  but  in  all  the 
preliminary  stages,  the  positive  is  not  grasped  ex- 
cept by  frequent  reminders  of  negative,  of  the  pro- 
hibitive, of  that  to  be  avoided  and  shunned.  By 
specifying  minutely  what  one  must  not  do,  he  learns 
best  what  he  ought  to  do.  Merely  to  tell  one  to  be 
good  or  just  is  too  indefinite  to  make  an  impression 


60        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

on  the  child  life  of  the  individual  or  the  nation.  To 
specify  a  variety  of  things  which  are  not  good  and 
not  just,  and  by  a  commandment  to  abstain  there- 
from, there  comes  growth  in  apprehension  of  good- 
ness and  justice.  For  one  to  face  prohibitions,  and 
to  determine  what  not  to  do,  he  learns  self-control, 
and  self-control  is  the  strength  of  all  virtue ;  it  is  the 
back-bone  of  sound  character. 

The  enunciation  of  great  principles,  which  are  to 
be  worked  out  in  each  individual  in  the  spirit  of  per- 
fect freedom,  characterizes  a  high  form  of  civiliza- 
tion. Ordinary  society  can  be  governed  only  by 
laws.  Men  need  to  be  told  what  are  the  various 
crimes  and  misdemeanors,  and  what  is  the  punish- 
ment for  breaking  this  or  that  law.  A  child  learns 
how  to  keep  the  body  strong  and  healthy  only  by  a 
few  accidents,  some  pain  and  much  crying.  A  na- 
tional catastrophe  best  awakens  a  nation  to  the  need 
of  reform.  To  know  what  to  avoid  we  best  learn 
what  we  are  to  follow.  In  advanced  training  we 
"cease  to  speak  of  first  principles"  and  '*press  on  to 
perfection." 

Thus,  according  to  wise  educational  methods  in 
character-training,  Buddhism  has  first  ten  com- 
mandments, or  rather  prohibitions,  and  these  are 
then  expanded  into  several  hundreds.  The  Mosaic 
law  of  Ten  Commandments,  is  also  negative  in  form 
— "Thou  shalt  not."  On  the  positive  side  of  Bud- 
dhism all  is  summed  up  in  compassion,  and,  later  on, 
in  what  is  called  enlightenment  or  spiritual  knowl- 
edge, just  as  Christianity  is  summed  up  in  love  to 
God  and  men,  or  in  being  perfect. 


BUDDHISM  61 


VII. 


A  seventh  fundamental  principle  of  Buddhism, 
which  every  Christian  must  recognize  as  true 
and  must  accordingly  appreciate,  is  the  law  of  cause 
and  effect  applied  to  morals,  or  the  law  of  retribu- 
tion, known  in  Buddhism  as  "Karma".  One  saying 
known  to  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  China  is 
this,  "Goodness  has  its  recompense ;  badness  has  its 
recompense;  goodness  and  badness  in  the  final  reck- 
oning must  have  their  recompense."  This  law  from 
which  no  one  can  escape  is  a  basal  principle  of  Bud- 
dhism. It  is  also  a  principle  of  supreme  importance 
inculcated  over  and  over  again  in  Christianity,  and 
whose  recognition  preserves  the  Christian  from  be- 
coming lax  and  unconcerned.  "Whatsoever  a  man 
soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap."  So  Christ  asked 
the  question,  "Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns  or 
figs  of  thistles?"  and  then  added  a  scientific  law, 
which  all  can  understand:  "A  good  tree  cannot 
bring  forth  evil  fruit,  neither  can  a  corrupt  tree 
bring  forth  good  fruit." 

The  saying  of  the  Buddha  is,  "Our  good  or  evil 
deeds  follow  us  continually  like  shadows."  And 
again  he  adds,  with  encouragement  as  well  as  warn- 
ing, "Since  it  is  impossible  to  escape  the  result  of 
our  deeds,  let  us  practise  good  works." 

As  Christianity  gives  hope  to  the  sinner,  who 
stands  in  dread  of  inevitable  consequences,  so  Bud- 
dhism, as  we  have  already  shown,  makes  as  much  of 
the  principle  of  salvation  as  the  principle  of  retribu- 
tion. There  is  given  the  hope  of  salvation,  but  even 
then  this  law,  which  runs  through  the  universe,  can- 


62  A  christian's  appreciation  of  Oa^HER  FAITHS. 

not  be  destroyed.    It  may  be  altered  by  higher  forces, 
but  not  destroyed. 

The  Buddha,  in  addressing  a  king,  remarked,  ''We 
are  enclosed  on  all  sides  by  the  rocks  of  birth,  old 
age,  disease,  and  death,  and  only  by  considering  and 
practising  the  true  law  can  we  escape  from  this  sor- 
row-piled mountain."  There  is  Karma  and  there  is 
also  escape.  According  to  one  school,  escape  comes 
through  persistency  in  following  the  true,  the  good 
and  the  merciful;  according  to  the  other  and  more 
popular  school,  escape  comes  through  powers  above 
acting  within  the  soul.  Even  when  one  is  exhorted 
to  righteousness  in  order  to  be  saved,  he  never 
ceases  to  look  to  Buddha  for  help  and  mercy.  And 
even  when  one  relies  on  salvation  by  the  Buddlia,  he 
knows  that  by  no  possibility  can  he  escape  from 
Karma,  except  by  transformation  of  character. 
Salvation,  however  it  comes,  cannot  come  without  a 
change  of  heart,  of  life,  overcoming  evil  and  becom- 
ing essentially  good.  This  is  as  much  the  teaching 
of  Christianity  as  of  Buddhism,  and  of  Buddhism  as 
of  Christianity.  The  law  with  its  hope  of  alteration 
runs  through  all  the  realms  of  religious  thought. 

VIII. 

Buddhism  may  further  be  appreciated  for 
the  distinction  it  makes  between  self  and  better  self, 
and  between  lower  and  higher  desires.  The  desires 
which  lie  at  the  root  of  all  suffering  are  evil  desires, 
and  more  properly  called  lusts  or  passions.  This  is 
indicated  in  the  Chinese  term  which  is  used  to  trans- 
late the  idea  of  desire.    In  the  same  way  a  distinc- 


BUDDHISM  63 

tion  prevails  in  every  individual,  one  who  yields  to 
his  lower  nature  and  the  other  who  follows  his 
higher  nature,  the  false  self,  is  the  servant  of  pas- 
sion ;  the  higher  nature,  the  true  self,  is  the  servant 
of  conscience.  When  Buddhism  is  supposed  to  teach 
that  self  disappears,  it  is  only  meant  that  the  lower 
nature,  that  which  is  transitory,  and  what  may  be 
called  the  animal  side  of  one's  nature,  or  in  scrip- 
tural language,  the  flesh,  disappears.  The  higher 
and  spiritual  side  of  one's  nature  is  eternal  and  is 
forever  developing. 

The  great  Apostle  of  Christianity  mentions,  on  the 
one  side,  his  ''delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  in- 
ner man,"  and,  on  the  other,  he  adds :  "I  see  a  dif- 
ferent law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law 
of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into  captivity  under 
the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my  members,"  and  then  he 
cries  out  in  this  startling  exclamation,  "0  wretched 
man  that  I  am !  who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  the  body 
of  this  death?" 

These  words  of  the  Christian  Apostle  sound  fitting 
on  the  lips  of  the  devoted  Buddhist.  The  desire 
which  issues  in  suffering  is  this  law  in  one's  mem- 
bers, which  each  one  in  his  sober  moments  recog- 
nizes as  base  and  unsatisfying,  contrary  to  the  law 
in  the  inner  man,  which  alone  satisfies  and  which  in 
the  end  shall  triumph  and  last  forever.  When  one 
succeeds  in  escaping  from  self,  i.  e.,  from  the  desires 
of  this  lower  self,  he  is  not  far  from  the  rest  of 
Nirvana.  Whilst  escape  from  these  desires  of  the 
lower  self  is  effected,  it  does  not  mean  that  all  de- 
sires are  extinguished.     Good  desires  remain  and 


64        A  christian's  appreciation  op  other  faiths. 

have  then  a  chance  for  full  development,  in  the 
smooth  working  of  the  spiritual  faculties. 

Sakyamuni,  speaking  of  this  lower  self,  said: 
"Self  is  an  error;  an  illusion,  a  dream.  Open  your 
eyes  and  awake,  see  things  as  they  are  and  you  will 
be  comforted."  And  he  adds :  "Surrender  the  grasp- 
ing disposition  of  your  selfishness  and  you  will  at- 
tain to  that  sinless  calm  state  of  mind  which  conveys 
perfect  peace,  goodness,  and  wisdom."  The  desir- 
ability of  following  the  true  self,  higher  desires,  or 
what  Buddhism  calls  truth,  is  seen  in  these  words: 
"Ye  who  long  for  life,  know  that  immortality  is 
hidden  in  transiency.  Ye  who  wish  for  happiness 
without  the  sting  of  regret,  lead  a  life  of  righteous- 
ness. Truth  is  wealth  and  a  life  of  truth  is  happi- 
ness." Then  as  Buddhahood  is  the  highest  state  of 
truth,  it  is  said :  "Buddha  is  the  truth ;  let  Buddha 
dwell  in  your  hearts.  Extinguish  in  yourselves 
every  desire  that  antagonizes  Buddha,  and  in  the 
end  of  your  spiritual  evolution  you  will  become  like 
Buddha." 

IX. 

Along  with  this  important  distinction  is  the 
other  distinction  between  reality  and  unreality.  It 
has  been  supposed  that  in  Buddhism  the  distinction 
is  between  the  real  and  the  unreal.  The  things  of 
life  which  we  see,  that  which  has  form,  are  transient 
and  will  disappear,  but  this  does  not  mean  that  all  of 
life  or  all  of  personality  will  also  disappear.  The 
Nirvana  of  Primitive  Buddhism  does  not  mean  noth- 
ingness or  annihilation,  but  that  the  transient  ele- 


BUDDHISM.  65 

ments  of  life  have  all  disappeared  and  that  the  high- 
est, the  best,  the  eternal,  the  spiritual,  will  remain. 
The  ambition  of  the  Buddhist  is  to  attain  to  Bud- 
dhahood  or  what  is  called  enlightenment,  but  en- 
lightenment means  spiritual  vision,  higher  than 
human  learning  and  ordinary  knowledge.  It  is  much 
like  wisdom  as  spoken  of  in  the  Bible.  To  link  this 
highest  form  of  wisdom  with  annihilation  is  plainly 
an  absurdity.  The  annihilation  is  of  the  lower  form 
of  desire,  and  of  self.    The  real  remains. 

According  to  the  Brahmanistic  teaching  which 
Sakyamuni  accepted,  whilst  rejecting  other  teach- 
ings there  is  beneath  all  phenomena  and  behind  all 
nature  a  Universal  Soul  or  Spirit.  This  alone  is 
permanent;  all  else  is  illusory  and  transitory.  The 
self  or  Ego  which  is  separate  from  this  Universal 
Soul  is  hence  illusory  and  transitory;  that  which  is 
identified  with  the  Universal  Soul  is  permanent  and 
real.  Dr.  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  in  his  lectures  in 
India,  speaking  of  this  primary  distinction,  says: 
'The  general  tendency  of  Western  thinking  is  to 
recognize  with  more  or  less  absoluteness  the  reality 
of  the  phenomenal  universe  with  the  countless  dis- 
tinctions of  finite  souls  and  finite  objects.  .  .  . 
The  immemorial  thought  of  India  emphasizes  the 
reality  of  the  Invisible  Absolute,  whilst  to  some  ex- 
tent admitting  the  distinction  of  the  individual  soul 
and  its  phenomenal  environment."  This  character- 
istic of  Indian  thought  represents  Buddhism  in  both 
of  its  great  schools. 

Thus  we  see  and  hear,  the  material  universe  is 
generally  looked  upon  as  existence.  Buddhism  would 
then  say,  if  such  is  existence,  we  must  look  for  rest 


t.C)  \   nHHISTIAN  is  APPHECIATION   OF  OTHER   FAITHS. 

and  perfection  in  non-existence.  What  is  thought 
of  as  existence  is  illusory  and  unreal;  what  is 
thought  of  as  non-existence  is  permanent  and  real. 
The  Universal  Soul  is  of  this  latter  kind.  This  is 
Nirvana — a  life  of  pure  form,  of  high  spiritual  real- 
ity. As  Mr.  Reginald  Johnston,  in  his  valuable  work 
on  ''Buddhist  China"  says:  ''This  does  not  mean 
that  Nirvana  is  another  name  for  blank  Nothing- 
ness, or  that  the  extinction  of  the  phenomenal  ego 
is  equivalent  to  the  annihilation  of  the  real  or  tran- 
scendental self."  He  quotes  from  Prof.  Noda  of 
Japan  who  describes  Nirvana  as  "salvation  from  the 
misery  of  the  world,  as  deliverance  from  suffering, 
as  enlightenment  and  blessedness." 

Dr.  Paul  Carus  in  a  similar  way  explains  this 
truth:  "And  is  Nirvana  non-existence?  Not  at  all. 
It  is  the  attainment  of  the  deathless  state,  of  imma- 
teriality, of  pure  form,  of  eternal  verity,  of  the  im- 
mutable and  enduring,  where  there  is  neither  birth 
nor  death,  neither  disease  nor  old  age,  neither  afflic- 
tion nor  misery,  neither  tempation  nor  sin."  And  he 
quotes  from  the  Buddhist  canon :  "When  the  fire  of 
lust  is  extinct,  that  is  Nirvana;  when  the  fires  of 
hatred  and  infatuation  are  extinct,  that  is  Nirvana ; 
when  pride,  false  belief,  and  all  other  passions  and 
torments  are  extinct,  that  is  Nirvana." 

The  Christian  Apostle,  turning  away  from  the 
sufferings  and  afflictions  of  this  present  world — the 
unreal  part  of  life — to  the  reality  and  bliss  of  a  fu- 
ture life  used  these  words:  "Though  our  outward 
man  is  decaying,  yet  our  inward  man  is  renewed 
day  by  day    .    .    .   for  the  things  which  are  seen  are 


BUDDHISM.  67 

temporal,  but  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are 
eternal." 


X. 

The  tenth  and  last  ground  for  the  Christian's 
appreciation  of  Buddhism  is  that  it  teaches  that 
there  are  many  manifestations  of  the  eternal  and 
omnipresent  Spirit  or  Universal  Soul.  These  are 
better  called  theophanies,  than  incarnations.  The 
many  Buddhas,  like  the  prophets  of  Judaism  and 
Christianity,  and  the  Holy  Men  of  Confucianism, 
are  those  who  thus  manifest  God  to  the  world.  So 
much  is  this  so,  that  in  Mongolia  Buddha  is  the  term 
used  for  God.  While  the  teaching  of  Buddhism  con- 
cerning the  Absolute  and  Infinite  One  is  not  equal 
to  that  in  Confucianism,  still  less  to  that  in  Judaism 
and  Christianity,  it  has  this  conception  of  the  In- 
finite One,  the  Antetype,  revealing  Himself  to  man- 
kind in  many  ways  and  through  many  chosen  men. 

Professor  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  speaking  of  In- 
dian religious  thought,  which  also  characterizes 
Buddhism,  says:  ''In  its  fundamental  proposition 
(i.  e.,  of  Christianity)  that  the  Eternal  One  differ- 
entiates His  ov>^n  self-subsisting  energy  in  the  infi- 
nite variety  of  finite  existences,  it  is  not  far  removed 
from  the  fundamental  proposition  of  the  highest  In- 
dian thinking,  that  the  self-subsisting  Brahma,  the 
Absolute,  by  his  multiplying  power,  projects  the  in- 
finite variety  of  finite  existences  and  distinctions 
described  by  the  mystic  word  Maya."  He  quotes 
in  this  connextion  from  Upton's  ''Bases  of  Religious 
Belief" :    It  follows  that  there  is  certain  self-revela- 


68  A   christian's  APPREniATION  OF  OTHER  FAITHS. 

tion  of  the  Eternal  and  Infinite  One  to  the  finite 
soul." 

The  Mahayanist  recognition  of  this  thought  ap- 
pears in  the  great  Classic,  'The  Lotus",  where  it  is 
said: 

'There  is  but  One  Great  Cause, 
Enlightening  every  Sage  and  Prophet 
Manifested  in  the  world." 

And  again: 

''All  Law  comes  from  one  Source 
Always  from  the  Eternal." 

This  Source  of  all  which  is  manifested  in  Sages 
and  Prophets,  Buddhas  and  Pusas,  is  in  Modern 
Buddhism  spoken  of  as  the  Antetype  or  the  True 
Form,  and  He  becomes  incarnate  in  the  Buddha. 
'The  Soul  of  the  True  Form  is  the  great  essence  of 
the  invisible  and  visible  worlds";  so  says  "The 
Awakening  of  the  Faith."  Another  statement  in 
this  Classic  is  as  follows :  "As  to  the  work  of  the 
True  Form,  it  is  that  which  is  in  all  the  Buddhas 
and  the  Coming  One  from  that  first  moment  of  great 
love  and  desire  to  cultivate  their  own  salvation  and 
then  to  save  others,  to  the  time  of  their  great  vow 
to  save  all  beings  throughout  all  future  endless 
kalpas." 

Thus  it  is  seen  through  these  ten  elements  of  Bud- 
dhist teachings  that  Buddhism  does  not  mean  mate- 
rialism, atheism,  pessimism,  egoism  or  nihilism. 
Buddhism  in  its  fundamental  ideas  has  much  to  be 
admired  and  to  conserve.  It  needs  a  new  reforma- 
tion— the  first  principle  to  be  appreciated — so  that 


BUDDHISM.  69 

the  erroneous  elements  which  have  crept  in  may  be 
cast  out  and  the  good  may  be  retained.  Buddhism 
needs  to  have  the  essence  of  its  principles  brought 
forth  into  the  light,  like  breaking  the  nut  that  v^e 
may  get  the  kernel.  The  nearer  we  approach  to  the 
great  founders  of  the  different  schools  of  Buddhistic 
thought,  the  more  easily  does  the  Christian  have 
feelings  of  honest  appreciation.  ''Back  to  Buddha'* 
needs  to  be  said  as  well  as  ''Back  to  Christ". 


CHAPTER  IV 
A  CHRISTIAN'S  APPRECIATION  OF  ISLAM 

It  is  worthy  of  reference  that  this  discussion  of 
Islam  is  under  the  auspices  of  the  Billings  Lecture- 
ship, representing  the  Unitarian  body,  which  of  all 
branches  of  Christianity  is  most  in  sympathy  with 
the  great  teachings  of  the  Prophet  Muham_mad,  The 
Unitarian  and  the  Moslem  are  akin  in  cardinal  re- 
ligious doctrines.  Whilst  neither  a  Moslem  nor  an 
Unitarian,  the  speaker  who  enters  on  this  study  is 
convinced  that  every  devoted  Christian  ought  to  be 
able,  without  any  undue  strain  on  his  conscience,  to 
see  and  express  a  hearty  appreciation  of  this  Faith 
which  includes  Jesus  as  one  of  its  chosen  Prophets, 

It  is  now  over  thirty  years  since  the  speaker  first 
formed  the  acquaintance  of  Chinese  Muhammadans, 
in  western  Shantung,  in  the  two  cities  of  Tsinanfu 
and  Tsiningchow.  Many  acts  of  kindness  and  friend- 
ship could  be  related,  as  shewing  the  attitude  of 
Moslems  to  Christians  in  China.  Whilst  Islam  in 
China,  where  Arabic  is  not  widely  understood,  dif- 
fers in  some  particulars  from  the  Islam  of  the  land 
of  its  birth,  in  all  essentials  it  is  the  same ;  and  it  is 
essentials  with  which  we  must  always  deal,  if  appre- 
ciation by  an  outsider  is  to  be  based  on  sound  rea- 
son. 

Christianity  and  Islam,  the  Cross  and  the  Cres- 
cent, are  the  two  great  competing  Religions  of  the 

70 


ISLAM.  71 

world.  Being  competitive,  and  alike  strong,  active 
and  missionary,  it  is  easy  for  them  to  become  rivals 
and  increasingly  antagonistic  as  they  increase  in 
power,  in  adherents,  and  in  claims  to  superiority. 
When  brothers  become  enemies,  they  are  the  bitter- 
est of  enemies.  So  the  hostility  which  has  been  en- 
gendered between  Protestants  and  Catholics,  be- 
tween the  Christian  and  the  Jew,  and  the  Christian 
and  the  Moslem  is  far  more  intense  than  between 
Christians  and  the  adherents  of  other  Religions  such 
as  those  already  discussed,  namely,  Confucianism, 
Taoism  and  Buddhism.  And  yet  there  is  more 
ground  for  a  fraternal  than  an  antagonistic  spirit 
between  Islam  and  Christianity;  and  so,  to  do  the 
reasonable  thing  and  cultivate  a  larger  and  deeper 
fraternity,  we  gladly  venture  on  this  discussion,  '*A 
Christian's  Appreciation  of  Islam."  If  the  Moslem 
will  reciprocate  by  expressing  appreciation  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  bonds  of  union  between  us  will  be  greatly 
strengthened, 

I. 

The  first  element  in  the  teachings  of  the  Koran 
or  of  Muhammad  which  the  Christian  cannot  but 
appreciate  is  the  teaching  concerning  God  or  Allah. 
The  many  excellent  teachings  of  Taoism  are  all  re- 
lated to  the  basic  teaching  concerning  "Tao"  or  Uni- 
versal Law.  To  a  much  greater  degree,  all  the  rules, 
the  laws,  the  ritual,  the  rites,  and  the  dogmas  en- 
joined in  the  Koran  are  bound  up  in  the  cardinal 
doctrine  of  the  one  living  and  true  God. 

Whilst  "Tao"  is  all  too  largely  impersonal,  Allah 
is  personal,  and  as  a  person  He  is  supreme;  He  is 


72        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

the  Sovereign  of  the  Universe ;  He  is  the  great  I  AM, 
as  revealed  to  the  prophet  Moses.  The  follower  of 
Muhammad  glories  in  personality,  whilst  the  phi- 
losophies of  other  Faiths  and  other  peoples  are  be- 
wildered at  the  very  thought  of  personality,  still 
more  so  of  an  infinite,  all-present  personality.  The 
God  of  Islam  is  pre-eminently  a  personality,  how- 
ever mysterious  the  conception;  He  is  not  mere 
spirit,  or  a  mere  influence.  Allah  never  loses  His 
identity  in  the  material  universe  of  which  He  is  the 
Creator.  Though  the  word  personality  is  not  trans- 
latable into  Chinese,  except  as  referring  to  man,  yet 
the  idea  of  a  living  Ruler,  distinct  from  the  world, 
as  taught  in  the  Koran,  can  be  intelligently  ex- 
pressed. 

Theology  is  the  science  of  God.  Religion  has  also 
been  spoken  of  as  man's  right  attitude  to  God.  If 
these  two  definitions  be  correct,  then  Islam^  has  as 
much  right  to  be  called  a  religion  and  a  theology  as 
have  Christianity  and  Judaism,  and  more  so  than 
Buddhism,  Taoism  or  Confucianism,  of  which  we 
have  been  able  to  express  appreciation.  The  doc- 
trine concerning  God  and  man's  relation  to  God  is 
cardinal  in  Islam,  and  this  gives  it  a  distinguished 
position  amongst  the  religions  or  theologies  of  all 
past  time  and  all  peoples.  All  else  is  dependent  on 
this  one  great  truth.  This  of  itself  is  the  essence  of 
Islam.  All  else  in  Islam  might  be  cast  aside,  but  so 
long  as  this  truth  remains,  Islam  remains. 

The  teachings  of  the  Koran  concerning  the  attri- 
butes of  the  Unseen  and  Infinite  Ruler  of  the  uni- 
verse are  very  similar  to  the  revelations  of  the  Law 
and  the  Prophets,  contained  in  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 


ISLAM.  73 

tures.  In  these  sacred  Books  the  teachings  concern- 
ing God  are  the  most  clear,  complete  and  awe-in- 
spiring of  all  the  sacred  Books  of  the  world.  The 
definition  in  the  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  best  in  all  literature.  "What 
is  God?"  "God  is  a  spirit,  infinite,  eternal,  and  un- 
changable  in  His  being,  wisdom,  power,  holiness, 
justice,  goodness  and  truth."  Such  a  statement  as 
this  suits  well  as  a  summary  of  the  Koran's  answer 
to  the  same  question,  most  vital  of  all,  "What  is 
God?"  or  still  better,  "Who  is  God?"  The  last  form 
is  the  true  form  of  the  question  in  Christianity, 
Judaism,  and  Islam,  whilst  "What  is  God?"  is  the 
natural  form  of  expression  in  nearly  all  the  other 
Religions, 

According  to  the  Koran,  as  according  to  the  He- 
brew Scriptures,  followed,  too,  by  the  Christian's 
New  Testament,  God  is  the  Author  or  Creator  of  all 
Worlds  and  is  its  everlasting  Ruler.  Islam  is  thus 
not  Deism  but  pure  Theism.  He  is  also  distinct 
from  the  material  universe,  though  an  ever-present 
God,  and  thus  Islam  is  not  Pantheism  but  Theism, 
Still  less  does  Islam  give  any  countenance  to  atheism 
or  materialism.  Of  God  the  Moslem  has  no  doubts 
whatever.  Having  many  revelations  through  proph- 
ets, through  a  Book,  and  through  nature,  the  Mos- 
lem is  never  an  agnostic.  In  the  presence  of  these 
denials  or  misconceptions  of  God,  the  Christian  can 
join  hands  with  the  Moslem  in  a  strong,  unwavering 
belief  in  the  one  living  and  true  God. 

In  the  Christian's  treatise  of  theology  we  might 
take  the  attributes  of  God,  one  by  one,  as  there  enu- 


74         A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

merated  and  proved  by  Scripture,  and  prove  the 
same  by  many  citations  from  the  Koran. 

The  one  truth  concerning  God  which  stands  forth 
clear  and  supreme  is  the  Oneness  of  God.  There  is 
no  countenance  v^hatever  given  to  polytheism,  to 
tritheism,  or  to  dualism.  As  in  the  Hebrew  and 
Christian  revelation,  God  is  One.  If  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  ;i  Trinity,  or  the  Buddhist  and  Taoist 
Trinities,  are  rejected  as  false,  it  is  because  they 
are  viewed  as  teaching  three  Gods,  three  Persons, 
distinct  from  each  other,  and  here,  even  the  orthodox 
Trinitarian  Christian  must  acknowledge  that  if  in 
our  thought  or  phraseology  or  practice  we  make 
unto  ourselves  three  distinct  persons,  each  of  whom 
we  call  God,  we  betray  ourselves  into  gross  error, 
subverting  that  which  is  fundamental  and  all-essen- 
tial,  the  truth  that  "the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord," 
As  my  own  father  once  said,  "There  cannot  be  two 
Gods.  One  excludes  a  second."  As  Joseph  Cook,  the 
defender  of  orthodoxy,  once  said,  "God  is  one  es- 
sence or  substance.  It  is  the  immemorial  teaching 
of  religious  science  that  we  must  not  divide  the  sub- 
stance of  God,  and  we  do  this  whenever  we  say  that 
there  are  in  God  three  persons  in  the  literal,  modern, 
colloquial  sense  of  that  word."  What  is  primary, 
what  is  essential,  to  right  thinking  and  right  con- 
duct is  that  there  is  only  one  God,  who  is  omnipres- 
ent, but  always  the  same  one  God.  This  doctrine, 
we  must  hold  to,  whatever  be  the  other  doctrines 
which  we  fashion  in  our  mind  or  try  to  explain  to 
others.  The  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  Oneness  of 
God  ought  never  to  be  eliminated  from  our  mind  or 
lowered  in  our  thought.     To  hold  to  this  evermore 


ISLAAl.  75 

is  the  faith  of  Islam  and  also  the  faith  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

The  first  and  second  of  the  Ten  Commandments 
are  unequivocal  in  their  meaning,  and  they  are  un- 
equivocally accepted  by  the  Moslem.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Koran  it  is  said:  ''This  is  God  your 
Lord.  There  is  no  God  but  He,  the  Creator  of  all 
things.  Therefore  serve  Him,  for  He  taketh  care 
of  all  things." 

The  God  taught  by  Islam  is  not  a  tribal  God,  but 
the  Lord  of  all  worlds  or  all  creations.  He  is  more 
than  the  God  of  Abraham,  or  Israel,  He  is  the  God  of 
all  men.  Thus  the  first  chapter  of  the  Koran,  a  brief 
one,  a  prayer,  is  as  follows : 

*Traise  be  to  God,  the  Lord  of  the  worlds,  the 
most  merciful,  the  king  of  the  day  of  .judgem_ent. 
Thee  do  we  worship,  and  of  Thee  do  we  beg  assist- 
ance. Direct  us  in  the  right  way,  in  the  way  of 
those  to  whom  Thou  hast  been  gracious,  not  of  those 
against  whom  Thou  art  incensed  nor  of  those  who  go 
astray." 

God  according  to  Islam  is  All-powerful.  In  this 
it  agrees  with  other  Religions.  In  thinking  of  a  Su- 
preme Being,  all  men  think  naturally  of  His  power. 
He  is  sovereign  over  all.  All  the  events  of  life  are 
determined  by  Him.  So  emphatic  is  this  teaching 
that  an  element  of  Fate  is  ascribed  to  the  Islamic 
God.  In  the  same  way  many  passages  in  the  Chris- 
tian's Bible,  taken  by  themselves,  teach  not  only  pre- 
destination but  fatalism^.  In  both  the  Bible  and  the 
Koran  God*s  sovereignty  is  exalted  and  revered. 
The  Koran  has  these  words : 

"God  :  there  is  no  God  but  He — the  living,  the  self- 


76        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

subsisting;  neither  slumber  nor  sleep  seizeth  Him. 
Whatsoever  is  in  heaven  or  on  earth  is  His.  Who  is 
he  that  can  intercede  with  Him,  except  by  His  good 
pleasure?  He  knoweth  that  which  is  past,  and  that 
which  is  to  come  unto  them,  and  they  shall  not  com- 
prehend anything  of  His  knowledge,  except  so  far 
as  He  pleaseth.  His  throne  extended  over  heaven 
and  earth,  and  the  preservation  of  both  is  no  burden 
unto  Him.    He  is  the  high,  the  mighty." 

As  a  part  of  God's  omnipotence  and  omniscience, 
is  the  great  work  of  bringing  all  worlds  and  all  man- 
kind into  being.  He  alone  is  eternal.  The  world  is 
His  workmanship.  He  is  the  author  of  all,  generally 
described  as  Creator.  In  this  the  Koran  and  the 
Bible  agree,  though  neither  is  so  binding  as  to  forbid 
the  Moslem  or  the  Christian  to  accept  the  teachings 
of  science.  The  essential  and  religious  thought  is 
that  God  had  no  beginning,  and  that  the  m.aterial 
universe  came  to  be  through  the  power  of  God,  The 
following  are  some  citations  from  the  Koran  :— 

**He  created  the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  and  sub- 
jected them  to  law  by  His  behests!" 

"The  All-mighty,  the  All-knowing,  the  All-just, 
the  Lord  of  the  worlds,  the  Author  of  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  the  Creator  of  life  and  death,  in 
whose  hand  is  dominion  and  irresistble  power,  the 
great,  all-powerful  Lord  of  the  glorious  throne." 

'Traise  be  unto  God,  who  hath  created  the  heav- 
ens and  the  earth,  and  hath  ordained  the  darkness 
and  the  light,  those  who  do  not  believe  in  the  Lord, 
make  other  gods  to  be  His  equal.  It  is  He  who  hath 
created  you  of  clay,  and  then  decreed  the  term  of 
vour  lives." 


ISLAM.  77 

The  omnipotence  and  omniscience  of  God  are, 
moreover,  used  for  man's  good,  in  the  path  of  holi- 
ness, in  harmony  with  righteousness.  God  is  not 
mere  power;  He  is  not  an  arbitrary  Potentate;  He 
is  just  and  righteous. 

''Dost  thou  not  know  that  God  is  almighty?  Dost 
thou  not  know  that  unto  God  belongeth  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  and  earth?  Neither  have  ye  any  pro- 
tector or  helper  save  God." 

The  most  noticeable  teaching  of  Islam  concerning 
God  is  that  of  His  mercy.  On  the  walls  of  the  mosque, 
otherwise  totally  bare,  are  the  Arabic  words  which 
mean,  ''In  the  name  of  God,  the  Compassionate,  the 
Merciful."  These  words,  too,  appear  at  the  begin- 
ning of  every  chapter  or  Surd  of  the  Koran.  God, 
being  full  of  mercy,  can  forgive  sins  and  show  pity 
to  all  who  are  in  trouble.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
God  is  elevated  to  the  highest  position  not  only  in 
men's  veneration,  but  in  men's  affection.  It  is  be- 
cause God  is  gracious  and  merciful,  that  men  can  ap- 
proach to  Him,  and  have  their  petitions  heard. 

"God  is  the  King,  the  Holy,  the  Peaceful,  the 
Faithful,  the  Guardian  over  all  His  servants,  the 
Shelterer  of  the  orphan,  the  Guide  of  the  erring,  the 
Deliverer  from  every  affliction,  the  Friend  of  the 
bereaved,  the  Consoler  of  the  afflicted;  in  His  hand 
is  good,  and  He  is  the  generous  Lord,  the  gracious 
Hearer,  the  Near-at-hand,  the  Compassionate,  the 
Merciful,  the  very  Forgiving." 

"Be  thou  bounteous  unto  others,  as  God  hath  been 
bounteous  unto  thee." 

What  is  especially  to  be  commended  in  Islam  is 
that  the  teachings  concerning  God  are  not  so  much 


;8        A  christian's  appreciation  of  othkr  faiths. 

scholastic  as  practical.  Man  not  only  knows  God, 
but  has  duties  towards  God.  The  very  word  ''Islam" 
means  submission  to  God  or  peace  with  God — Atone- 
ment. The  whole  duty  of  man  is  to  obey  God,  or,  as 
Christ  expressed  it,  ''to  do  the  will  of  God."  It  is 
here  that  Christianity  and  Islam  meet  and  can  agree. 
They  agree  on  that  which  is  all-essential,  namely,  to 
do  God's  will,  to  follow  the  commands  of  God.  There 
may  be  disagreement  on  many  other  doctrines,  but 
those  who  determine  to  do  God's  will,  not  only  "will 
know  of  the  doctrine,"  as  Christ  expressed  it,  but 
will  be  performing  the  central  duty  of  all  religions. 
When  one  of  the  scribes  asked  Jesus,  what  was  "the 
first  commandment  of  all,"  Jesus  replied,  as  Muham- 
mad himself  in  the  spirit  of  his  words  w^ould  reply, 
"The  first  commandment  is  'Hear,  0  Israel,  the  Lord 
our  God  is  one  Lord',"  and  then  from  the  doctrine 
of  the  Oneness  of  God,  he  advanced  to  ihe  doctrine 
of  man's  obligation  to  God:  "And  thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God,  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul,  and  v/ith  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy 
strength ;  this  is  the  first  commandment."  This,  too, 
is  the  first  commandment  of  Islam,  except  that 
where  Jesus  used  the  word  "love",  Muhammad  used 
the  word  "obey".  With  both  the  same  foundation 
truth  of  all  religions  is  this :  God  alone  is  God,  and 
to  Him  as  supreme,  every  man  has  duties  of  venera- 
tion, trust,  obedience  and  love. 

This  first  great  teaching  of  Islam  is  a  truth  per- 
taining not  only  to  Moslems,  but  to  all  men,  of  all 
nations  and  creeds.  AVhether  Islam  or  Christianity 
be  the  universal  Religion  or  not,  this  cardinal  truth 
of  Islam  is  universal ;  it  is  the  cardinal  truth  of  all 


ISLAM.  70 

religions  and  for  all  humanity.  Whether  this  or  that 
Religion  be  universal  and  absolute,  truths  such  as 
this  proceed  from  God,  lead  men  back  to  God,  and 
embrace  the  whole  world  and  all  generations  within 
the  limits  of  their  eternal  sway. 

II. 

Islam  in  the  second  place  may  be  appreciated 
by  the  Christian  because  it  was  a  great  religious 
reformation.  What  Sakyamuni  did  for  Brahman- 
ism,  Muhammad  did  both  for  Judaism  and  Chris- 
tianity. These  two  Religions  in  Arabia  were  dead 
Religions  or  had  degenerated  into  idolatry.  They 
had  forsaken  God.  They  needed  to  be  awakened  by 
a  reformer.  It  was  not  so  much  Protestantism  as  a 
Reformation.  Islam  was  more  a  reform  than  a  pro- 
test. Its  reform  was  a  return  to  first  principles,  as 
taught  both  in  Judaism  and  in  Christianity.  It  was 
especially  an  appeal  to  return  to  God.  Like  the  He- 
brew prophets,  Muhammad  warned  the  people  of 
their  great  sin  in  forgetting  the  law  of  God,  and  in 
running  after  strange  gods.  If  he  could  persuade 
them  to  fear  God  and  keep  His  commandments — to 
remember  the  days  of  old — there  was  hope  for  them 
and  for  true  religion. 

As  to  Christianity  as  it  was  represented  in  Arabia, 
it  was  not  a  clear  untarnished  Theism,  but  tri-the- 
ism.  The  Heavenly  Father,  Mary  the  mother  of 
God,  and  Jesus  their  son,  were  worshipped  as  three 
Gods,  and  their  images  appeared  in  the  churches 
along  with  the  images  of  other  saints.  Christianity 
as  taught  by  Christ  had  lost  its  identity  in  the  for- 


80        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

malism  and  errors  of  the  Church  of  Arabia.  Still 
more  the  truths  proclaimed  by  God  through  all  the 
ages  had  been  lost  sight  of  amid  the  vain  imaginings 
of  men's  hearts.  The  only  hope  was  in  a  return  to 
the  great  fundamental  teaching  of  all  time,  that  of 
only  One  God,  an  omnipresent  spirit,  without  form 
or  body.  The  reformation  of  Muhammad  was  thus 
a  return  to  the  first  and  second  commandments  of 
the  prophet  Moses,  which  Jesus  himself  had  equally 
taught. 

The  characters  used  in  Chinese  for  Islam  have 
this  meaning  of  return.  Every  Moslem  in  speaking 
of  his  religion  is  accustomed  to  speak  of  the  begin- 
nings of  things,  of  God  the  Creator,  of  the  work  of 
creation,  and  of  Adam  the  first  man.  To  the  Moslem 
mind  the  early  days  of  the  world  were  a  truer  reve- 
lation than  latter  days.  In  this,  Islam  agrees  with 
the  Hebrew  record.  Mankind  as  thus  taught,  began 
with  monotheism,  rather  than  developed  into  mono- 
theism. In  a  religious  sense  Islam  is  one  of  the  most 
conservative  religions  of  the  world.  By  this  is  meant 
that  the  truths  on  which  it  is  built  are  those  which 
were  handed  down  from  the  ancient  past  and  which 
originated  in  God.  At  the  same  time,  whilst  not  a 
progressive  religion,  Islam  is  a  hopeful  religion,  for 
other  of  its  teachings  bear  on  the  future  and  on  fu- 
ture life. 

III. 

A  third  teaching  in  Islam  which  the  Chris- 
tian can  appreciate  is  that  God  from  the  beginning 
of  the  human  race  has  raised  up  chosen  men,  to 


ISLAM.  81 

whom  He  has  imparted  special  revelations.  These 
men  are  called  prophets.  Altogether  there  have 
been  tens  of  thousands  of  prophets,  amongst  whom 
there  are  313  who  are  called  apostles.  These  latter 
are  specially  endowed  and  amongst  them  there 
arises  a  still  more  select  group,  the  highest  grade  of 
men,  six  in  all,  who  became  the  possessors  of  a  spe- 
cial revelation,  and  were  more  holy  in  character. 
These  six  are  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  Jesus 
and  Muhammad.  Ishmael  as  the  progenitor  of  the 
Muhammadan  Faith  is  highly  esteemed  as  one  of 
the  chosen  of  God.  Thus  worship  of  the  Sages  and 
of  ancestors  is  as  strong  in  Islam  as  in  Confucianism. 

Of  the  five  times  of  worship  each  day,  the  first,  at 
dawn,  gives  reverence  to  Adam,  the  ancestor  of  all 
mankind;  the  second,  at  noon,  gives  reverence  to 
Ishmael,  founder  of  the  Faith ;  the  third  in  the  aft- 
ernoon, to  Elias ;  the  fourth,  at  sunset,  to  Jesus ;  and 
the  fifth,  at  night,  to  Muhammad.  But  above  all  is 
God  Supreme. 

Thus  whilst  God  is  a  transcendent  God,  He  should 
not  be  thought  of  as  separate  from  the  world,  but 
is  in  fact  an  immanent  God.  This  immanence  of 
God  is  seen  particularly  in  this  large  number  of 
prophets,  224,000  altogether,  who  are  free  from  all 
great  sins  and  have  special  light  from  God.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Christian  teaching  reverence  is  also  paid 
to  the  prophets  culminating  in  Jesus  Christ,  the 
greatest  of  all  prophets.  Christianity  even  goes 
further,  recognizing  that  there  is  a  light  which 
lighteth  every  one  coming  into  the  world. 

The  doctrine  of  God's  immanence,  which  has  only 
of  late  years  received  special  emphasis  by  Christians, 


82        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

is  in  Islam  the  doctrine  of  God's  omnipresence.  Thus 
in  the  Koran  occur  these  words:  "Dost  thou  not 
perceive  that  God  knoweth  whatever  is  in  heaven 
and  earth?  There  is  no  private  discourse  amongst 
three  persons,  but  He  is  fourth  of  them;  nor 
amongst  five,  but  He  is  the  sixth;  neither  amongst 
a  smaller  number  nor  a  larger,  but  He  is  with  them, 
wheresoever  they  be ;  and  He  will  declare  unto  them 
that  which  they  have  done,  on  the  day  of  resurrec- 
tion, for  God  knoweth  all  things."  That  is,  God's 
omniscience  is  through  God's  omnipresence.  If  God 
is  also  a  God  of  mercy  as  we  have  seen  taught  in  the 
Koran,  as  well  as  omnipresent.  He  will  impart  of 
His  truth  to  all  the  children  of  men,  and  those  who 
are  most  responsive  become  prophets  and  apostles. 

IV. 

A  fourth  feature  of  Islam,  which  Christians 
should  rejoice  in,  rather  than  mourn  over,  is  the 
high  position  given  to  Jesus  Christ.  Islam  is  the 
only  religion  outside  of  Christianity  which  gives  spe- 
cial honour  to  Christ.  That  it  fails  to  look  upon 
Jesus  Christ  in  the  same  way  as  do  orthodox  Chris- 
tians is  not  a  matter  of  surprise.  Every  doctrine 
concerning  Jesus  must  be  based  on  historical  rec- 
ords. Muhammad  and  other  Arabs,  from  what  they 
saw  of  Christians  around  them,  regarded  Chris- 
tianity as  tritheism,  one  of  the  three  Gods  being 
Jesus,  son  of  Mary.  Being  convinced  that  this  was 
a  great  error,  Muhammad  reverted,  as  we  have  al- 
ready pointed  out,  to  the  indispensable  and  cardinal 
doctrine  of  only  one  God.    This  doctrine  is  as  essen- 


ISLAM.  83 

tial  to  Christianity  as  to  Islam.  There  can  be  no 
second  God,  neither  must  any  human  being,  even  a 
holy  prophet,  be  elevated  to  the  supreme  rank  of 
God.  If  in  men's  thinking  other  doctrines  and  other 
beliefs  subvert  this  essential  doctrine,  they  must  be 
cast  aside  that  the  essential  truth  of  God's  Oneness 
may  be  preserved. 

In  understanding  the  attitude  of  Islam  to  Jesus, 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  probably  no  complete 
copy  of  the  Gospels,  still  less  of  the  New  Testament 
as  a  v^rhole,  was  in  use  in  Arabia  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury. Muhammad  attached  special  authority  to  the 
Pentateuch,  to  the  Psalms,  and  to  the  Gospels,  but 
the  copy  of  the  Gospels  in  Arabic  was  not  the  same 
as  those  on  which  we  base  our  version.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  the  Gospel  in  current  use  in  Arabia  was 
one  of  St.  Barnabas.  Muhammad's  interpretation 
of  Jesus  was  based  on  this  copy  of  the  Gospels,  and 
this  seems  to  be  the  source  of  the  reference  to  Jesus 
as  found  in  the  Koran. 

According  to  the  Koran,  Jesus  was  first  of  all  a 
real  human  being,  "in  all  points  like  as  we  are."  He 
lived  a  real  human  life,  though  possessed  of  the  spe- 
cial favour  and  grace  of  God.  Like  other  prophets, 
the  miraculous  entered  into  his  life.  He  was  closer 
to  the  Divine  than  ordinary  mortals.  He  was  ele- 
vated to  the  highest  position  as  a  religious  teacher, 
or  in  the  language  of  the  learned  Pharisee,  Nico- 
demus,  "as  a  prophet  sent  from  God."  He  stands 
supreme  over  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham  and  Moses, 
since  he  imparts  a  new  revelation  to  a  later  age. 

According  to  these  same  records,  Jesus  had  a 
miraculous  birth.     He  was,  moreover,  "the  word 


84        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

proceeding"  from  God.  He  is,  spoken  of  as  *'hon- 
ourable  in  the  world  to  come."  '*God  shall  teach 
him,"  it  is  said,  "the  Scripture,  and  wisdom,  and  the 
law  and  the  gospel  and  shall  appoint  him  apostle  to 
the  children  of  Israel.'  The  Koran  also  relates  that 
he  performed  many  miracles  through  the  power  of 
God;  that  the  Jews  attempted  to  crucify  him,  but 
that  God  rescued  him,  and  carried  him  away  into 
the  heavens;  and  that  he  will  descend  to  earth  be- 
fore the  resurrection,  to  overthrow  the  Anti-Christs 
and  bring  peace  and  love  to  mankind. 


A  fifth  reason  why  Christians  can  appreciate 
Islam  is  because  of  the  importance  it  attaches  to 
prayer.  In  Islam,  as  in  Judaism  and  Christianity, 
God  is  a  prayer-hearing  and  prayer-answering  God. 
Muhammad  was  accustomed  to  call  prayer  "the  pillar 
of  religion."  Hence  the  Koran  enjoins  five  stated 
times  for  prayer  during  each  day.  Besides  these 
fixed  times  one  is  to  be  always  in  a  state  of  prayer. 
"Be  constant  at  prayer,"  says  the  Koran,  "for  prayer 
preserveth  from  crimes  and  from  that  which  is 
blameable  and  the  remembrance  of  God  is  surely  a 
most  sacred  duty."  And  again:  "Be  constant  in 
prayer,  and  give  alms ;  and  what  good  ye  have  sent 
before  for  your  souls,  ye  shall  find  it  with  God." 
How  like  these  exhortations  of  the  Koran  are  the 
commands  of  our  Bible.  "Rejoice  evermore;  pray 
without  ceasing."  And  again:  "Be  ye  therefore 
sober  and  watch  unto  prayer.  And  above  all  things 
have  fervent  charity  amongst  yourselves." 


ISLAM.  85 

Much  might  be  said  of  the  reverence  which  the 
Moslem  shows  to  God  in  his  worship,  so  different 
from  the  familiarity,  to  say  nothing  of  the  vulgarity, 
of  some  forms  of  Christian  behaviour. 

Prayer,  moreover,  is  directed  to  God  alone,  in  har- 
mony with  the  cardinal  teaching  of  Islam.  God's 
throne  is  a  throne  of  grace.  Petitions  to  Him  are  not 
in  vain.  With  Him  is  forgiveness.  Prayer  is  not  a 
form,  but  a  reality  and  a  joy. 

VI. 

A  sixth  reason  why  a  Christian  can  appreci- 
ate Islam  is  that  it  teaches  the  doctrine  not  only  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  but  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  body.  Muhammad,  on  the  basis  of  the  records 
which  he  had  in  his  possession,  did  not  teach  that 
Jesus  himself  was  raised  from  the  grave,  just  as  he 
did  not  believe  that  Jesus  was  actually  crucified.  In 
a  miraculous  manner,  however,  Jesus  was  carried 
away  into  heaven  from  which  he  shall  come  again. 
His  crucifixion  and  resurrection  require  what  we 
may  call  an  historical  belief  rather  than  a  religious 
belief  or  hope.  They  depend  on  testimony,  on  evi- 
dence, for  belief.  A  religious  belief,  a  trust,  a  hope, 
has  to  do  with  the  future,  and  here  Islam,  like  Chris- 
tianity, teaches  the  resurrection  of  all  men  at  the 
end  of  the  world. 

The  view  given  in  the  Koran  of  man's  resurrec- 
tion should  please  those  who  are  inclined  to  the  be- 
lief of  a  bodily  resurrection,  rather  than  those  who 
accept  the  more  spiritual  view  as  presented  by  the 
Apostle  Paul.     That  Islam  accepts  the  general  doc- 


86  A  CHRISTIAN  S  APPRECIATION  OF  OTHER  FAITHS. 

trine,  whatever  the  form  of  the  resurrection,  should 
be  pleasing  to  all  branches  of  Christians. 

VII. 

A  seventh  reason  for  appreciating  Islam  is 
because  of  its  teaching  concerning  charity,  as  used 
in  the  broad  sense  of  good-w^ill  and  kindness,  and  in 
the  narrov^^  sense  of  alms-giving.  Alms  like  prayer 
is  one  of  the  required  practices  of  the  Koran,  but 
behind  it  lies  the  feeling  of  love  to  all  men.  "Be 
good  to  parents  and  to  kindred  and  to  orphans  and 
to  the  poor,  and  to  a  neighbour,  whether  kinsman  or 
a  newcomer,  and  to  the  slaves  whom  your  right  hand 
holds."  Another  saying  is:  "Blessed  are  the  pa- 
tient, the  truthful,  the  lowly,  and  the  charitable,  the 
forbearing  who  bridle  their  anger  and  forgive — God 
loveth  those  who  do  good  to  others." 

In  the  16th  Sura  there  is  one  verse  which  Muham- 
mad was  accustomed  to  quote  at  every  Friday  Serv- 
ice and  which  many  others  continue  to  do.  It  is 
this:  "Verily  God  enjoineth  justice,  the  doing  of 
good,  and  the  giving  unto  kindred,  and  He  forbid- 
deth  immorality,  wrong  and  revolt."  Here  in  brief 
form  is  the  doing  of  good  to  all,  to  people  and  to  gov- 
ernment. 

VIII. 

Along  with  this  spirit  of  charity  is  that  of 
religious  tolerance.  Christians  have  too  often  con- 
demned Islam  as  a  religion  of  the  sword,  when  in 
the  relations  of  Christians  and  Moslems  neither  side 
has  much  to  boast  of.     The  cruelties,  harshness. 


ISLAM.  87 

hatreds  and  wars  practised  by  both  Christians  and 
Moslems,  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Gospels  or 
the  Koran.  ''Let  there  be  no  compulsion  in  religion," 
is  one  of  the  familiar  sayings  of  the  Koran.  An- 
other statement  is :  ''Verily  those  who  believe  (i,  e,, 
the  Moslems) ,  and  those  who  are  Jews,  Christians, 
or  Sabaeans,  whoever  hath  faith  in  God  and  the  last 
day,  and  worketh  that  which  is  right  and  good — for 
them  shall  be  the  reward  with  their  Lord ;  there  will 
come  no  fear  on  them ;  neither  shall  they  be  grieved.'' 
It  is  only  fair  to  Islam  that  we  as  Christians  rec- 
ognize this  phase  of  thought  and  spirit  which  char- 
acterizes Islam  more  than  the  harsh  and  hard  fea- 
tures as  lived  out  by  followers  of  Muhammad  like 
those  who  have  followed  Christ.  Let  us  praise  this 
which  is  the  chief  thing  in  Islamic  character. 

IX. 

A  ninth  reason  for  a  Christian's  apprecia- 
tion of  Islam — and  the  last  one  we  will  emphasize — 
is  its  sound  attitude  towards  war.  "Peace  be  with 
you,"  is  the  familiar  greeting  of  the  Hebrew,  the 
Oriental  Christian  and  the  Moslem.  This  may  be 
called  the  greeting  of  all  Oriental  peoples. 

Islam  means  submission  to  God,  or  in  other  words, 
peace  with  God.  When  Muhammad  was  born,  the 
Arabs  had  frequent  bloody  feuds;  under  his  teach- 
ing the  people  were  unified. 

War,  according  to  the  Koran,  is  right  when  it  is 
for  self-defence  or  in  behalf  of  God  and  the  truth. 
The  frequent  use  of  the  word  "enemies"  in  the  Ko- 
ran, is  the  phraseology  of  war  times.  One  saying  is : 


88        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

"A  sanction  is  given  to  those  who,  because  they  have 
suffered  outrages,  have  taken  up  arms,  and  verily 
God  is  well  able  to  succour  them."  Another  passage 
reads:  "And  fight  for  the  cause  of  God  against 
those  who  fight  against  you ;  but  commit  not  the  in- 
justice of  attacking  them;  God  loveth  not  aggres- 
sors." 

Islam  is  a  religion  that  teaches  the  faithful  ob- 
servance of  covenants  and  engagements.  Muham- 
mad is  thus  termed  the  Faithful.  War,  if  it  comes, 
is  in  defence  of  the  promised  word  "0  believers," 
says  the  Koran,  "be  faithful  to  your  engagements." 

In  comparison  with  the  follower  of  Jesus  and  of 
Lao  tsze  and  of  Sakyamuni,  Muhammad  appears  as 
the  strong  man,  and  his  God  as  the  Mighty  God,  the 
Lord  of  Hosts.  The  quietness  of  Jesus  and  the  force 
of  Muhammad  are  opposite  sides  of  the  same  truth, 
Jesus,  moreover,  was  not  meek  to  the  point  of  weak- 
ness, and  Muhammad  was  not  strong  at  the  expense 
of  gentleness.  Many  a  Saracen  in  war  has  shown 
chivalry  towards  the  enemy,  as  the  Christian  has 
shown  a  fearless  courage. 

Here,  then,  are  eight  principles  or  teaching  in 
Islam,  which  are  the  superstructure  of  the  one  solid 
foundation  of  the  Oneness  of  God.  There  may  be 
difference  between  the  Christian  and  the  Moslem  in 
interpreting  these  eight  points,  as  of  others  we  have 
not  mentioned,  but  by  building  on  the  same  founda- 
tion, however  different  the  superstructure,  we  are 
at  one;  the  foundation  is  immovable.  To  use  an- 
other figure  of  speech,  we  drink  at  the  same  foun- 
tain, though  from  different  cups. 


ISLAM.  89 

The  summing-up  of  Islamic  teachings,  making  sin- 
cerity superior  to  formalism,  may  be  found  in  these 
words  of  the  Koran,  with  which  we  close:  "There 
is  no  piety  in  turning  your  faces  towards  the  East 
or  towards  the  West,  but  he  is  pious  who  believes  in 
God  and  the  Last  Day,  in  angels,  the  Scriptures,  and 
the  Prophets,  who  for  the  love  of  God  disburseth  his 
wealth  to  his  kindred,  and  to  the  orphans,  and  to  the 
needy,  and  to  the  wayfarers,  and  to  those  who  ask, 
and  for  the  redemption  of  captives ;  who  is  constant 
at  prayer  and  giveth  alms;  and  of  those  who  per- 
form their  covenants  when  they  have  covenanted, 
and  are  patient  in  adversity  and  hardship  and  in 
times  of  trouble.  These  are  they  who  are  straight. 
These  are  they  who  are  pious." 

With  this  from  the  Koran  may  be  placed  the  sim- 
ple statement  of  the  Prophet  Micah:  "What  doth 
the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly  and  to  love 
mercy  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God." 


CHAPTER  V 
A  CHRISTIAN'S  APPRECIATION  OF  THE  JEW 

It  is  easier  for  the  Christian  to  appreciate  Juda- 
ism than  to  appreciate  the  Jew.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  probably  easier  for  the  Jew  to  appreciate  the 
Christian  than  to  appreciate  Christianity.  One  of 
these  more  difficult  tasks — that  of  the  Christian  ap- 
preciating the  Jew — is  the  theme  I  have  chosen  for 
study  in  the  effort  to  find  concord  and  to  cultivate 
sympathy  between  one  Religion  and  another,  and 
between  men  whose  beliefs,  tasks  and  traditions 
differ  more  than  they  agree.  The  main  thought  to 
bear  in  mind  is  as  to  whether  these  or  other  differ- 
ences should  stand  in  the  way  of  a  brotherhood  of 
mankind  or  of  a  unity  in  spiritual  thought  and  feel- 
ing. These  investigations  of  the  different  religious 
Faiths,  and  the  expression  of  a  candid  and  true  ap- 
preciation of  another's  Religion,  are  all  preliminary 
to  the  main  thought  as  to  how  far  religious  concord 
is  possible  in  our  day  or  is  probable  in  the  future 
development  of  the  human  race. 

For  a  Christian  to  appreciate  the  excellence  and 
truths  embodied  in  Confucianism,  in  Taoism,  in 
Buddhism,  and  in  Islam  has  been  made  easy  because 
the  personal  factor,  outside  of  that  of  the  great 
founders  of  these  Faiths,  has  given  place  to  the 
tenets  of  these  Faiths,  especially  as  taught  by  their 
first  teachers  or  as  revealed  to  them  through  the 

90 


THE  JEW.  91 

shining  of  the  Light  of  the  World.  Were  we  to 
eliminate  the  personal  factor  in  the  inter-relation- 
ship of  Judaism  and  Christianity,  the  task,  as  we 
have  said,  would  be  comparatively  an  easy  one. 
What  is  really  of  practical  importance  is  concord  not 
so  much  between  these  two  Religions,  as  between 
Jews  and  Christians,  who  as  individuals  live  in  the 
same  society  and  owe  allegiance  to  the  same  Gov- 
ernments. Judaism  and  Christianity  may  be  so  rep- 
resented as  to  be  mutually  compatible,  but  what  mat- 
ters it,  if  there  is  no  compatibility  between  Jews  and 
Christians  ? 

This  word,  compatibility,  lies  really  at  the  root  of 
the  separation  between  the  Jew  and  the  Christian. 
It  is  a  question  of  likes  and  dislikes.  The  Jew  re- 
gards the  Christian  as  too  often  an  incompatible 
person,  and  the  Christian  has  the  same  feeling  to- 
wards the  Jew.  As  the  harmonious  relationship  of 
Jew  and  Christian  is  thus  retarded  by  only  a  little 
incompatibility  of  disposition  and  personal  dislikes, 
rather  than  by  a  divergence  of  conviction,  a  disa- 
greement on  heavenly  revelation,  a  difference  of 
religious  commands,  or  by  a  real  antagonism  as  to 
beliefs,  hopes  and  fears,  it  would  seem  that  the  task 
of  concord  is  made  easy ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in- 
compatibility and  dislikes,  between  whatsoever  per- 
sons they  exist,  are  often  never  overcome  through  a 
whole  life-time,  and  are  only  lessened  by  placing 
one's  self  on  a  higher  platform  of  intellectual  ap- 
proach, or  of  concentration  of  thought  on  vital  first 
principles  and  things  that  are  essential  and  there- 
fore which  agree.  That  which  is  accidentally  minor 
will  then  be  banished  through  the  superior  force 


92        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

of  that  which  is  inherently  supreme.  The  attract- 
iveness of  universal  principles,  the  glory  of  an  ideal 
vision,  will  act  as  a  mantle  to  cover  the  unpleasant 
appearance  of  incompatibility. 

The  Jews  as  a  nation  with  a  Jewish  king  to  reign 
over  them  have  long  since  ceased  to  be.  National 
jealousies,  therefore,  do  not  enter  into  the  dislikes 
felt  by  Christians  towards  the  Jews. 

The  fact  that  Judaism  and  Christianity  whilst 
originally  one  Religion,  the  Religion  of  the  One  God, 
have  more  and  more  withdrawn  from  each  other 
until  too  often  they  appear  as  antagonists,  Chris- 
tianity as  the  only  salvation,  and  Judaism  as  the 
crucifier  of  the  Saviour,  this  helps  to  explain  some- 
what the  animosity  existing  between  the  adherents 
of  these  two  Religions  now  separated  from  each 
other.  By  showing  that  Christianity  has  its  roots 
deep  set  in  the  soil  of  Judaism,  that  Jesus  himself 
was  a  Jew  and  not  merely  of  Jewish  extraction, 
that  his  mission  was  not  to  ''destroy  the  prophets", 
but  to  "fulfil",  and  that  he,  like  prophets  of  old, 
exhorted  all  wanderers,  all  backsliders,  all  who  had 
gone  into  by  and  forbidden  paths  to  the  worship  of 
God  and  the  ''old  way",  all  this  helps  to  concord  be- 
tween the  Jew^  and  the  Christian  as  followers  of  a 
particular  Religion. 

That  Jews  originally  were  of  the  Semitic  race,  and 
that  most  Christians  who  have  persecuted  and  de- 
spised the  Jew  have  been  of  the  different  branches 
of  the  Aryan  race,  also  helps  to  explain  why  the  Jew 
and  the  Christian  do  not  get  along  together  in  ami- 
cable and  cordial  spirit.  Racial  differences  are  al- 
ways so  much  fire-wood  for  bringing  about  a  wide- 


THE  JEW.  93 

spread  conflagration.  But  this  racial  difference  be- 
tween Jew  and  Christian  is  not  a  barrier.  It  is 
only  a  stumbling  block.  The  distinction  of  Semite 
and  Aryan  is  linguistic  more  than  racial.  They  both 
belong  to  the  white,  Caucasian  race;  racially  they 
are  one  rather  than  two.  Even  with  linguistic  dif- 
ferences the  Semites  have  become  assimilated  into 
all  branches  of  the  Aryans,  and  the  Aryans  have 
become  Jews,  Russian  Jews,  German  Jews,  and  Jews 
of  every  section  of  the  Teutonic  and  Slavic  peoples. 
Even  the  Semitic  race  at  the  beginning  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  could  not  be  claimed  as  of  pure  and  undi- 
luted Semitic  blood,  for  during  many  centuries  the 
Hebrew  had  interblended  with  other  peoples.  Abra- 
ham had  Hagar,  the  Egyptian,  as  one  of  his  wives, 
and  their  offspring  was  Ishmael,  the  ancestor  of  the 
Moslems ;  Joseph  married  the  daughter  of  an  Egypt- 
ian priest;  and  Moses  the  daughter  of  a  Midianitic 
priest,  whilst  David  was  the  descendant  of  the  Moab- 
itic  Ruth. 

The  dislikes  of  feeling  by  Jew  to  the  Christian  and 
by  the  Christian  to  the  Jew  are  thus  not  so  much  of 
race,  of  religion  or  of  nationality,  as  because  they 
are  different  individuals.  Not  all  Christians  like 
each  other,  as  is  witnessed  in  Europe  today.  Why 
then,  should  we  be  surprised  if  Jews  and  Christians 
do  not  always  like  each  other?  Why  should  we  stum- 
ble at  their  incompatibility? 

The  difference  of  personal  characteristics  in  Jew 
and  Christian  is  due  in  part  to  religious  training,  to 
social  usages,  to  historic  environment,  to  economic 
conditions,  and  to  the  necessities  of  trade  and  barter. 

Our  mutual  dislikes  can  best  be  overcome  by  over- 


94        A  christian's  appreciation  op  other  faiths. 

looking  the  characteristics  of  disposition,  conduct 
and  demeanour,  and  dwelling  on  the  essential  worth 
of  the  individual  man.  It  is  by  an  intellectual  appre- 
ciation of  each  other  that  our  mutual  incompatibility 
will  disappear,  like  the  dew  of  night  by  the  rays  of 
the  morning  sun.  Herein  is  a  duty  for  both  Jew  and 
Christian ;  but  today  the  olive-branch  is  extended  by 
one  Christian,  representing,  he  hopes,  many  others, 
to  his  Jewish  brother. 

I. 

The  Christian  does  well  to  appreciate  the  Jew- 
ish people  for  a  common  inheritance  handed  down 
from  the  far-away  past  to  Christian  and  Jew  alike. 
The  most  vital  of  all  religious  truths,  of  one  living 
and  true  God,  above  all  and  in  all,  received  its  high- 
est recognition  in  the  people  of  Israel  who  first  went 
out  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldes  and  later  from  Egypt 
and  dwelt  west  of  the  Jordan  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 
The  prophets,  priests  and  kings  of  the  house  of 
Israel  were  claimed,  too,  by  Jesus  and  the  chosen 
Twelve.  The  founders  of  the  Christian  Church, 
Jesus  as  well  as  John  the  Baptist,  Paul  as  well  as 
Peter,  James  and  John,  were  all  Jews,  learned  the 
Scriptures,  thought  of  them  as  the  product  of  divine 
inspiration,  heard  the  law  expounded  each  Sabbath 
day  in  the  synagogues,  and  at  stated  times  wor- 
shipped at  the  temple  in  Jerusalem.  Jesus,  at  the 
thought  of  coming  doom  to  the  Holy  City,  wept  over 
it,  and  Paul  was  willing  to  be  accursed  if  thereby  his 
own  people  might  be  saved.  The  Christians  gave 
proof  of  their  beliefs  by  citing  the  law  and  the 


THE  JEW.  95 

prophets.  They  argued  more  from  the  revealed 
word  as  spoken  to  these  Hebrew  saints  than  by  ap- 
peal to  natural  Religion  or  to  the  philosophies  of 
Greek  and  Roman,  Persian  or  Alexandrian.  It  was 
the  Jew  who  received  the  oracles  of  God  and  elabo- 
rated the  Jewish  system  of  rite  and  ritual,  of  faith 
and  practice.  It  was  the  Jew  who  gave  birth  to  the 
Christian's  faith  and  the  Christian's  hope.  It  was 
the  Jew  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Moslem's 
creed,  and  who  is  revered  still  by  all  Moslem  believ- 
ers. It  is  the  Jew  who  unites  Judaism,  Christianity 
and  Islam.  *'It  was  he,"  says  Rabbi  Krauskopf, 
"who  laid  the  foundation  to  modern  civilization.  His 
is  the  God,  his  the  sacred  literature  of  half  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  world.  The  Decalogue,  the  moral  law, 
the  Sabbath,  the  ethical  and  social  principles  of 
modern  society  are  all  his.  His  the  prophets  of 
deathless  memory  whose  gospel  was  justice,  whose 
doctrine  was  the  might  of  right,  who  have  served  as 
exemplars  to  every  political  and  religious  and  social 
reformer  ever  since.  His  the  teaching  of  the  Father- 
hood of  God.  His  the  teaching  of  the  Universal 
Brotherhood." 

II. 

The  Christian  should  appreciate  the  life  of 
the  Jews  as  those  who  have  endured  suffering,  pa- 
tient in  spirit,  submissive  to  God,  heroic  unto  death. 
From  the  early  days  of  history  down  to  our  own  day, 
no  people,  no  nation,  no  race,  no  religion  has  suf- 
fered so  much  as  the  Hebrew.  They  suffered  in 
Egypt,  though  Egypt's  salvation  had  been  wrought 


9.6        A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

by  Joseph  the  Jewish  premier.  They  suffered  in 
Persia  and  Babylonia,  beside  whose  rivers  and  under 
whose  willow  trees  they  knelt  down  and  wept  as  they 
remembered  Zion,  and  yet  one  of  their  own  race 
became  Esther  the  Persian  Queen  and  Daniel  was 
first  of  all  the  princes  over  the  whole  kingdom.  They 
suffered  from  Roman  and  Grecian,  though  they  ob- 
served the  laws,  payed  their  taxes  and  honoured 
the  king.  The  days  of  the  Maccabees  were  days 
whose  heroic  story  thrills  the  world.  When  Jerusa- 
lem was  at  last  besieged,  bombarded  and  destroyed, 
by  the  Roman  legions,  the  Jews  drank  full  of  the 
bitter  cup,  and  left  an  example  of  how  women  and 
children  as  well  as  men  could  die  for  the  faith.  The 
Holy  Temple  and  the  palace  on  the  heights  smoul- 
dered into  ruins.  A  million  of  the  besieged  gave  up 
their  lives,  and  the  remnants  of  the  people,  not  yet 
struck  down  or  starved  to  death,  were  carried  away 
as  slaves  or  made  to  fight  with  wild  beasts  for  the 
sport  of  the  Pagans  of  Rome.  A  triumphal  arch, 
erected  to  the  honour  of  Titus,  was  built  in  Rome 
and  still  remains  amongst  the  ruins  of  that  ancient 
city  to  tell  of  the  sorrows  of  the  people  of  Israel 
more  than  of  the  glory  of  the  Roman  ruler. 

Scattered  ever  since  amongst  all  nations  and 
dwelling  on  all  continents,  the  subjects  of  Christian 
rulers,  their  story  these  nearly  1900  years  tells  of 
renewed  suffering,  of  persecution,  of  outrage,  of 
ostracism,  of  oppression,  not  in  the  excitement  of 
war,  but  in  times  of  peace,  not  at  pagan  or  Moslem 
hands,  but  at  the  hands  of  Christians.  Protestants, 
the  Church  of  Rome,  and  the  Holy  Orthodox  Church, 
have  alike  to  give  account  of  the  wrongs  done  to  the 


THE  JEW.  97 

Jews.  Only  in  the  nineteenth  century  has  civil  lib- 
erty been  granted  the  Jews  by  some  nations,  whilst 
other  governments,  down  to  the  present  day,  con- 
tinue their  policy  of  hounding  and  pogroming  the 
Jew.  Russia  and  Rumania  and  Austria  have  in  our 
own  generation  a  long  record  of  Jewish  suffering  at 
the  hands  of  Christians. 

England  and  the  United  States  are  the  two  nations 
where  Jews  have  been  blessed  with  most  rights, 
have  had  more  freedom,  and  have  enjoyed  most  pro- 
tection. But  the  disabilities  of  the  Jews  were  not 
removed  in  England  till  after  the  reform  introduced 
for  Roman  Catholic  subjects.  It  was  not  until  1858 
that  a  bill  passed  both  Houses  of  Parliament  allow- 
ing the  same  right  of  conscience  for  Jew  as  for  a 
Christian.  Whilst  thus  freed  from  the  acts  of  per- 
secution in  Eastern  Europe,  the  Jews  of  England 
and  the  United  States  are  not  in  consequence  wel- 
comed into  Christian  homes  and  Christian  society. 
Mr.  Claude  Montefiore  of  London  has  written  thus 
of  the  treatment  accorded  the  Jews  in  these  two 
Anglo-Saxon  countries : 

''To  put  the  matter  briefly,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
public  relations  of  Liberal  Jew  and  Liberal  Chris- 
tian are  most  developed  and  intimate  in  America, 
whilst  the  private  relations  of  Jew  and  Christian  are 
most  cordial  and  intimate  in  England.  For  speak- 
ing generally,  it  may  be  said  that  my  country,  Eng- 
land, is  a  paradise  for  the  Jew.  In  England  that 
bad  and  odious  thing  known  as  anti-Semitism, 
whether  it  be  political  or  professional  or  social, 
whether  it  depend  on  religious  hatred  or  race  hatred, 


9,8        A  christian's  appregiation  of  other  faiths. 

or   on   pride,   or   on   principle,   is   practically   non- 
existent/* 

III. 

The  third  feature  in  the  life  of  the  Jews 
deserving  the  admiration  as  well  as  appreciation  of 
all  Christians,  is  their  charity  or  philanthropy.  The 
very  suffering  of  multitudes  of  Jews  leads  the 
the  happy  and  more-favoured  minority  to  organize 
Societies  of  all  kinds  for  the  relief  of  the  distressed. 
Even  those  who  neglect  the  synagogue  have  not  neg- 
lected this  primal  duty  of  the  Jewish  Decalogue: 
"For  the  poor  shall  never  cease  out  of  the  land; 
therefore  I  command  thee,  saying,  Thou  shalt  open 
thine  hand  wide  unto  thy  brother,  to  thy  poor,  and  to 
thy  needy,  in  thy  land."  As  in  the  teachings  of  the 
Koran,  so  in  the  ancient  Jewish  Scriptures,  Charity 
or  alms-giving  is  like  the  Ten  Commandments.  The 
tithe  is  the  least  that  can  be  done.  To  do  more  is 
better. 

In  New  York  City,  where  there  are  more  Jews 
than  in  all  Palestine,  there  are  over  1,000  philan- 
thropic societies  for  the  relief  of  all  forms  of  dis- 
tress, need  and  suffering.  No  question  is  asked  as 
to  whether  one  is  a  Polish  Jew  or  a  French  Jew,  an 
Orthodox  Jew  or  a  Reformed  Jew ;  if  he  is  in  need, 
help  is  rendered.  The  cries  of  Jews  far  away  in 
other  lands,  whose  faces  have  never  been  seen,  touch 
a  chord  of  pity,  and  prompt  relief  is  at  once  dis- 
patched. The  names  of  Montefiore  and  de  Hirsch 
are  household  words  in  Palestine,  in  South  Africa, 
and  in  Argentina,  as  well  as  in  Russia,  Turkey, 
Morocco,  Persia  and  Rumania. 


THE   JEW.  99 

One  striking  statement  is  made  by  the  New  York 
United  Charities  Organization  that  out  of  9,000 
cases  of  itinerant  beggars  only  300  were  Jews,  and 
this  when  one-fifth  the  population  of  Manhattan  is 
Jewish. 

The  evidence  of  the  general  character  of  Jewish 
generosity  is  substantiated  by  countless  personal  ex- 
periences stretching  on  through  the  centuries.  Who- 
ever has  prospered  with  this  world's  goods,  has  at- 
tributed his  prosperity  to  the  gracious  favour  of  the 
Lord,  and  has  gladly  bestowed  of  his  substance  on 
those  less  fortunate,  less  fortunate  not  because  of 
God's  anger  but  because  of  men's  injustices. 

In  America  we  have  Mr.  Jacob  H.  Schiff,  the  suc- 
cessful banker,  founder  of  the  Semitic  Museum  at 
Harvard  University,  and  active  supporter  of  the 
Hebrew  Loan;  Strauss  brothers,  one  of  whom,  Mr. 
Isidor  Strauss,  with  his  equally  devoted  wife,  went 
down  in  the  Titanic  disaster ;  Mr.  Julius  Rosenwald 
of  Chicago,  whose  business  spends  $8,000  a  day  in 
stamps,  and  whose  beneficence  goes  forth  to  many 
causes;  Mr.  Isaias  W.  Hellman  of  San  Francisco, 
who  contributed  $100,000  to  the  Mount  Zion  Hos- 
pital and  is  a  Regent  of  the  University  of  California ; 
the  late  Mr.  Joseph  Fels,  the  substantial  supporter 
of  single-tax;  Mr.  James  W.  Speyer,  advocate  of 
universal  conciliation;  and  Mr.  Isadore  Strauss  of 
Richmond,  who  left  all  of  his  limited  fortune  for 
nearly  every  charity  in  his  city,  concerning  whom  a 
Christian  wrote  a  pamphlet,  entitled  'The  Benevo- 
lent Jew". 

Various  members  of  the  Sassoon  family  have 
made  many  donations  to  charitable  agencies  in  Bom- 


100      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

bay,  the  largest  amount,  1,000,000  rupees,  being  to 
the  Royal  Institute  of  Science.  Mr.  Ellis  Kadoorie, 
through  his  system  of  schools  for  the  Chinese,  is  a 
name  familiar  to  the  people  of  this  country.  In  fact 
in  India  and  Hongkong  Jews  and  Parsees  rival  each 
other  in  large-hearted  and  open-handed  helpfulness 
to  their  fellow  men. 

Jewish  charity  also  extends  to  Christians  as  well 
as  to  Jews.  Their  donations  to  hospitals,  under  no 
religious  control,  are  almost  as  frequent  as  to  Jew- 
ish Societies.  All  this  in  addition  to  the  rule  to  look 
after  their  own  poor,  just  as  Moslems  and  Parsees 
adhere  to  the  same  rule  in  their  own  communities. 

IV. 

The  Christian  may  also  appreciate  the  Jew 
for  what  he  has  done  in  defence  of  his  country, 
whether  native  or  adopted.  The  Jew  is  generally 
reckoned  more  as  a  financier  than  as  a  warrior.  He 
probably  prefers  to  trade  rather  than  to  fight.  And 
yet  the  heroism  he  has  exhibited  under  suffering  he 
is  capable  of  showing  on  the  battle-field.  Every 
country  now  at  war  in  Europe  has  its  quota  of  Jew- 
ish soldiers.  It  might  seem  as  if  a  Jew,  being  reck- 
oned as  outside  the  pale  of  Christian  communities, 
and  whose  entity  as  a  Jew  is  never  forgotten,  might 
be  excused  from  military  service  and  remain  a  neu- 
tral, whilst  German  and  Briton,  Frenchman  and 
Russian,  Austrian  and  Hungarian,  Turk  and  Ser- 
bian, Belgian  and  Italian,  Pole  and  Galician,  fight 
out  their  own  wars  of  conquest  or  defence,  of  spolia- 
tion or  liberation;  but  in  all  these  countries  Jews 


THE  JEW.  101 

are  at  the  front  hearing  the  call  or  obeying  the 
order  of  their  King,  Emperor,  President  or  Sultan. 

In  France  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  war,* 
there  were  as  many  as  eight  Jews  who  were  generals 
and  200  others  who  were  officers  of,  and  above,  the 
grade  of  captain.  In  Austria  there  were  six  gen- 
erals, one  a  lieutenant  field-marshal. 

In  the  United  States,  where  there  is  full  liberty 
and  no  conscription,  and  where  the  Jewish  popula- 
tion has  mostly  come  from  other  countries,  the  dif- 
ferent wars  have  been  represented  in  full  proportion 
by  the  Jewish  citizens.  In  the  American  Revolution, 
besides  the  good  contingent  of  enlisted  Jews,  when 
the  total  Jewish  population  was  scarcely  3,000,  the 
most  conspicuous  assistance  was  that  of  Hayen  Salo- 
mon, the  Philadelphian  banker,  who,  all  told,  ad- 
vanced $200,000  to  the  American  Government.  In 
the  Civil  War,  on  both  sides,  between  7,000  and  8,000 
Jews  were  enlisted,  a  larger  proportion  than  of  any 
other  religious  denomination.  Of  these  nine  held 
rank  as  generals.  Thus  the  Jews,  while  loving  peace, 
have  performed  loyal  service  in  war. 


The  Jews  have  also  rendered  political  service 
to  their  country,  and  for  this  their  fellow-country- 
men who  are  Christians  should  shew  appreciation. 
Naturally  we  think  of  the  Earl  of  Beaconsfield  or 
Benjamin  Disraeli,  the  Prime  Minister  of  Great 
Britain,  He,  however,  was  of  Hebrew  extraction, 
but  not  much  of  a  Jew  in  his  religion.   Of  the  Lord 


This  chapter  was  written  in  July.  1915. 


102      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

Mayors  of  the  City  of  London  five  have  been  Jews. 
The  Lord  Chief  Justice,  one  of  the  most  honourable 
positions  in  the  gift  of  the  Crown,  is  a  Jew,  Lord 
Reading.  There  are  also  two  members  of  Mr.  As- 
quith's  administration,  Mr.  Herbert  Samuel  and  Mr. 
Edwin  Montagu. 

Italy  had  a  Jewish  Premier  in  1910,  Signor  Lu- 
zatti,  and  the  present  Premier  is  Jewish  on  his 
mother's  side. 

Dr.  Dernberg,  once  Colonial  Secretary  in  Ger- 
many, and  still  more  lately  an  envoy-at-large  to  the 
United  States,  is  the  only  Jewish  name  in  the  Ger- 
m_an  Cabinet,  but  he,  like  Disraeli,  was  not  brought 
up  in  the  faith  of  his  fathers. 

Several  Jews  have  been  Cabinet  Ministers  in 
France.  Every  Parliament  in  Europe  has  had  Jew- 
ish representatives.  In  the  English  Parliam_ent  wo 
might  mention  those  who  first  secured  civil  rights, 
as  Lord  Rothschild  and  Sir  David  Salomon,  and, 
later  on,  Sir  Edward  Sassoon,  Sir  Julian  Goldsmid, 
and  Sir  George  Jessel.  As  to  the  United  States,  the 
late  Ambassador  to  Constantinople,  Mr.  Oscar 
Strauss,  and  the  present  incumbent,  Mr.  Henry  Mor- 
genthau,  are  devoted  Jews,  and  also  liberal  in  their 
sentiments  to  those  of  other  Faiths. 

VI. 

For  the  services  rendered  to  the  world  of 
thought,  science  and  art  the  Christian  should  also 
extend  appreciation  to  the  Jew.  The  Jews,  even 
those  of  the  poor  and  oppressed  classes,  have  always 
possessed  a  traditional  passion  for  learning.    As  the 


THE  JEW.  103 

restrictive  measures  of  Governments  have  stood  in 
way  of  Jewish  participation  in  public  service,  so 
the  same  restriction  has  shut  out  many  young  Jews 
from  the  large  Universities.  Jews  of  the  conserva- 
tive school  have  for  centuries  been  celebrated  for 
their  religious  lore,  their  mental  acumen  and  dialec- 
tic skill ;  Jews  who  have  absorbed  the  secular  learn- 
ing of  modern  science  have  also  attained  to  the  high- 
est proficiency  and  been  justly  esteemed  for  the  good 
their  abilities  have  brought  to  mankind,  to  a  world 
of  suffering.  In  Prussia  the  percentage  of  Jewish 
students  in  the  gymnasium  is  eight  times  as  large  as 
the  percentage  of  Christian  students,  and  in  the  Ger= 
man  universities  seven  tim_es  as  large.  In  Austria- 
Hungary,  there  is  a  similar  disproportion.  And  yet 
Germany  and  Austria-Hungary,  whilst  free  from,  the 
cruel  treatment  of  Russia  and  Rumania,  have  been 
noted  for  their  anti-Semitic  parties  and  their  spirit 
of  narrow  intolerance.  In  the  University  of  Vienna 
40  per  cent,  of  the  students  and  30  per  cent,  of  the 
professors  are  Jews.  In  the  intermediate  schools  of 
Austria  the  percentage  of  Jewish  students  runs  still 
higher,  being  as  high  as  77  per  cent. 

The  intellectual  character  of  the  Jewish  people 
comes  out  in  Italy,  Spain  and  Portugal  in  the  middle 
ages,  when  through  the  fierce  persecution  of  the 
Church  they  allowed  themselves  to  be  absorbed  into 
the  Christian  communities  of  these  intensely  Catho- 
lic nations.  Through  this  admixture  of  Jewish 
blood,  these  three  nations  attained  to  their  highest 
pre-eminence  in  culture,  commerce  and  enterprise. 
It  was  Jewish  capital  that  enabled  Columbus  to  cross 
the  Atlantic,  and  the  first  European  to  set  foot  on 


104      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

the  new  continent  was  a  Jew.  The  Universities  at 
Cordova,  Toledo,  Barcelona,  and  Granada  were  all 
started  under  the  initiative  of  learned  Jews.  On 
the  final  expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Spain,  it  has 
been  well  said  that  "the  life  of  Spain  went  out  with 
tlie  Jews. 

Professor  Hosmer  in  "The  Story  of  the  Jews" 
gives  the  following  just  praise  to  the  Jews  of  this 
and  an  earlier  period:  "How  great  is  the  debt  of 
civilization  to  these  men  (the  Jews),  whom  the 
Christians  so  cruelly  hounded !  They  had  become  a 
trading  race  indeed,  but  not  entirely  so.  They  had 
a  large  share  in  the  restoration  of  learning  and  the 
cultivation  of  science  in  the  time  of  the  Renaissance. 
Through  them  many  Greek  writings  were  translated 
into  Arabic,  thence  to  be  rendered  into  the  tongues 
of  Europe,  and  made  accessible  to  the  young  uni- 
versities of  the  West.  Through  them  medicine  was 
revived,  to  become  the  parent  of  physical  science  in 
general.  They  were  universal  translators,  publish- 
ers, and  literary  correspondents.  Their  schools  at 
Montpelier  in  France,  Salerno  in  Italy,  and  Seville 
in  Spain,  abounded  in  erudite  men  and  scientific  ex- 
perimenters. Whilst  superstition  reigned  elsewhere, 
they  were  often  comparatively  free  from  it.  The 
deserts  of  the  Hebrews  in  these  respects  must  never 
be  forgotten." 

Many  of  the  Jews,  expelled  from  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal, found  a  home  and  a  refuge  in  Holland ;  and  the 
Dutch  received  a  new  vigour  which  Spaniards  and 
Portuguese  had  cast  aside.  Holland  to  this  day  has 
been  the  land  of  true  liberty.  Among  the  earliest 
men  of  genius  of  Jewish  blood  was  Spinoza,  and 


THE  JEW.  105 

one  of  the  latest,  distinguished  in  International  Law, 
was  Tobias  Asser. 

In  the  United  States,  small  Jewish  communities 
were  established  in  the  British  and  Dutch  Colonies, 
and  with  the  expanse  of  the  Republic  there  has  come 
an  increased  influx  of  Jews,  who  at  once  took  on  a 
new  life,  and  laboured  hard  for  modern  learning. 
One  half  of  the  students  at  Columbia  University 
and  three-fourths  in  the  College  of  the  City  of  New 
York  are  of  Jewish  families.  The  public  schools  of 
American  cities  have  more  than  their  due  proportion 
of  Jewish  boys  and  girls,  and  they  take  more  than 
their  share  of  prizes. 

The  names  of  learned  Jews  form  a  long  list.  In 
medicine  they  have  always  ranked  high,  and  then  in 
jurisprudence.  Latterly  they  have  turned  to  jour- 
nalism, and  the  editors  of  leading  journals  in  Amer- 
ica and  in  European  countries  are  found  to  be  Jews. 
Dr.  Ehrlich  the  discoverer  of  salvarsan.  Dr.  Abra- 
ham Jacobi  of  New  York,  Dr.  Cohen  of  Philadelphia 
and  Sir  Feling  Semon  of  London,  all  great  physi- 
cians; Professor  Klein  of  Gottingen,  Prof.  James 
Sylvester  and  Dr.  Karl  Jacobi,  famous  mathemati- 
cians; Darmesteter,  the  translator  of  the  Avesta 
into  French  and  English;  Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, 
and  Frederic  Cowen  the  composers;  Heine,  the  lyr- 
ist; Dr.  Stein,  the  archaeological  explorer  of  Turk- 
istan,  and  Vamb6ry,  the  explorer  of  Central  Asia; 
Brandes,  the  Danish  literary  critic;  Wertheimer, 
who  devised  the  kindergarten;  Zamenhof,  who  in- 
vented Esperanto;  the  founders  of  Renter's,  Woff's 
and  Hirsch's  news-agencies ;  Pulitzer,  owner  of  "The 
New  York  World"  and  founder  of  the  School  of 


106       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

Journalism  at  Columbia  University;  Sarah  Bern- 
hardt, the  actress ;  Josef  Israels,  the  leading  repre- 
sentative of  modern  Dutch  art ;  Bergson,  the  French 
philosopher,  and  the  first  Jew  to  be  elected  to  the 
French  Academy,  and  Professor  Hermann  Cohen 
the  German  philosopher;  Louis  Brandeis  the  Amer- 
ican legal  expert  on  trusts ;  Waldemar  Haff  kine,  who 
discovered  a  method  of  inoculation  for  plague;  and 
Bloch,  the  advocate  of  disarmament,  whose  works 
led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Peace  Conference  at 
the  Hague  at  the  call  of  the  Czar, — these  are  some 
of  the  great  names  who  have  honoured  science  and 
culture,  and  in  doing  so  have  honoured  Judaism,  and 
blessed  the  world.  Both  Nansen  and  Sven  Hedin 
are  grandsons  of  Jews  and  owe  m_uch  to  Hebrew  as 
well  as  to  Christian  ancestry. 

VII. 

There  remains  one  other  ground  for  appre- 
ciating the  Jew  and  that  is  his  enterprise  in  finance 
and  trade.  The  Jew  first  lived  in  tents  and  was  the 
keeper  of  sheep  and  the  tiller  of  the  soil.  Then, 
largely  through  force  of  circumstances,  he  became 
the  world's  trader  and  held  sway  on  the  Bourse.  The 
mass  of  the  Jews  of  the  world  are  poor,  but  they 
have  a  persistent  faculty  for  rising  in  life,  give  them 
but  the  slightest  chance.  The  great  department 
stores  of  American  cities  are  in  the  hands  of  Jews. 
There  are  250  Jewish  millionaires  in  America,  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  misery  of  a  Jewish  Pale  or 
Ghetto.  The  Rothschilds  of  Frankfort,  London, 
Vienna,  and  Paris;  Kuhn,  Loeb  and  Co.,  Speyer  and 


THE  JEW.  107 

Co.  and  the  Seligman  brothers  of  New  York ;  Lazard 
Frores  of  Paris,  London  and  San  Francisco;  Stern 
and  Co.  of  London;  the  Credit  Mobiler  of  Paris; 
Baron  Bleichroder,  who  made  the  transfer  of  French 
indemnity  to  Prussia  after  the  Franco-Prussian 
war;  the  Dresden  Bank  and  the  Handels-Gesell- 
schaft  of  Berlin;  Sir  Ernest  Cassel,  who  financed 
the  Nile  Dam;  Mr.  Paul  Warburg,  one  of  five  to 
organize  the  new  banking  system  of  America;  and 
the  Sassoons  of  London,  Bagdad,  India  and  the  Far 
East ;  these  are  some  of  the  great  names  in  the  world 
of  finance  and  equally  so  in  the  sphere  of  philan- 
ih.opy. 

We  have  finished  our  review  of  som_e  of  the 
achievem.ents  of  the  Jews  in  different  walks  of  life. 
The  recital  is  sufficient  to  show  with  what  good  rea- 
son the  Jew  should  receive  the  hearty  appreciation 
of  the  Christian.  Strange  as  the  remark  may  be,  if 
the  Christian  can  appreciate  and  admire  the  Jew, 
it  will  not  be  long  before  he  can  like  the  Jew.  Com- 
patibility of  temperament  is  best  developed  on  both 
sides  by  an  interchange  of  inquiry  and  instruction 
and  by  sentiments  of  mutual  esteem  and  admiration. 
To  begin  by  trying  to  like  a  person  is  a  futile  effort. 
We  may  end  by  liking  a  person,  though  we  begin 
with  dislikes.  The  natural  process  of  feelings  of 
concord  between  two  classes  of  persons  like  Jews 
and  Christians,  different  in  religion,  sometimes  in 
nationality  and  race,  and  more  often  in  looks  and 
tastes  and  habits,  is,  first  to  select  a  few  in  the  other 
group  who  can  command  our  respect  and  arouse  a 
feeling  of  hero-worship;  then  advance  to  a  more 
general  view  of  the  other  group,  whether  Christian 


108      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

or  Jewish,  and  dwell  on  its  excellences ;  and  finally, 
when  a  kind  of  general  admiration  is  produced,  put 
our  love  to  the  test  by  here  and  there  a  personal 
application.  Our  like  for  particular  person  is  thus 
the  outgrowth  of  a  general  love  of  mankind.  From 
the  doctrine  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  we  expand 
our  affections  until  the  Christian  can  include  Mr. 
Abraham,  Mr.  Jacobs,  Mr.  Israel  or  Mr.  Ezra;  and 
they  in  turn  can  include  Peter  and  Paul  and  John 
and  Mark. 

This  concord  of  men,  I  would  add  in  conclusion,  is 
best  acquired  by  the  cultivation  of  the  religious  side 
of  man's  nature,  not  by  its  eradication ;  by  what  is 
called  the  unity  of  the  spirit.  Hence  the  Christian 
should  not  mourn  if  the  Jew  is  becoming  more  reli- 
gious; he  should  mourn  that  the  Jews  are  losing 
their  own  religion  and  all  religion.  Here  the  Chris- 
tian can  help  the  Jew,  even  whilst  he  remains  a  Jew. 
The  great  task  for  both  Jew  and  Christian  is  to  lay 
anew  the  foundations,  and  help  each  other  to  find 
God  again,  until  heart  and  mind,  love  and  trust,  are 
centered  in  the  "one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is 
above  and  through  all  and  in  you  all.'* 


CHAPTER  VI 

A  PROTESTANrS  APPRECIATION  OF  THE 
THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME 

It  is  a  striking  fact,  an  interesting  circumstance, 
needing  elucidation,  that  cordial  relations  between 
Christians  and  non-Christians  are  more  feasible 
sometimes  than  between  Christians  and  Christians. 
As  shown  in  the  study  already  made,  an  apprecia- 
tion by  a  Christian  of  the  three  great  Religions  of 
China,  Confucianism,  Taoism  and  Buddhism,  fre- 
quently denominated  as  heathen  or  pagan  Faiths, 
excites  but  little  surprise  and  is  taken  to  be  a  con- 
ciliatory method  of  prosecuting  Christian  missions. 
Very  seldom  is  there  any  ill-feeling  on  the  part  of 
the  Christian  missionary  toward  the  adherents  of 
these  three  Religions;  they  may  be  pitied  as  dwel- 
ling in  ''heathen  darkness'',  but  they  are  not  objects 
of  hate. 

When  we  advanced  to  a  consideration  of  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Christian  to  Islam  or  to  Judaism,  the 
surprising  disclosure  was  made  that  though  Chris- 
tian, Jew  and  Moslem  all  worshipped  the  one  God 
and  were  all  intellectually  monotheistic,  yet  the  rec- 
ords of  the  past  have  been  stained  by  unholy  wars, 
generally  called  holy,  by  unrighteous  hatreds,  gen- 
erally excused  as  righteous,  and  by  the  spirit  of 
bigotry,  intolerance  and  persecution,  generally  con- 
strued as  loyalty  to  the  truth.    We  have  found  an 

109 


1 10      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

explanation  in  the  common  occurrence  that  hatred 
between  brothers  is  more  fierce  and  deep-dyed  than 
between  different  families.  In  accordance  with  a 
modern  custom  in  China,  these  three  brothers  have 
long  since  divided  their  inheritance  and  separated 
most  unpleasantly  from  each  other. 

When  we  advance  to  the  relations  between  Prot- 
estants and  Roman  Catholics,  we  are  struck  by  the 
fact  that  the  closer  the  relationship,  the  deeper  the 
hatred.  Here  is  what  impresses  the  non-Christian 
Asiatic,  that  those  who  are  Christians,  or  at  least 
the  authorized  and  ordained  priests  and  pastors  of 
the  Christian  Church,  have  nothing  to  do  with  each 
other:  yea,  that  they  anathematize,  excommunicate 
and  denounce  each  other.  ''Are  they,  or  are  they 
not,  two  branches  of  the  one  Holy  Catholic  Church?" 
this  is  the  question  that  puzzles  the  unbaptized. 

Probably  one  of  the  best  books  for  confirming  the 
so-called  heathen  in  their  false  beliefs  is  a  book  en- 
titled ''Church  History",  whether  as  written  in  a 
Protestant  School  or  with  the  imprimatur  of  the 
Pope  of  Rome. 

Since  Church  Reformers  in  the  different  countries 
of  Europe  withdrew  from  Papal  control  or  were  ex- 
communicated by  a  Papal  Bull,  these  European  na- 
tions have  laid  heavier  burdens  on  "the  meek  and 
lowly  Jesus",  than  he  received  at  the  hands  of  either 
scribe  or  Pharisee,  Jew  or  Roman.  To  recount  these 
memories  of  the  past  would  be  no  credit  to  either 
Protestant  or  Roman  Catholic,  and  would  prove  a 
hindrance  to  the  cause  of  conciliation  as  between  one 
Religion  and  another,  between  one  people  and  an- 
other, or  between  man  and  man.     Only  these  awful 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.  HI 

facts  of  the  past  may  induce  us  to  more  strenuous 
effort  in  the  adoption  of  wiser  methods  for  the  pro- 
duction of  international  union  and  inter-religious 
concord. 

Christians  of  all  kinds  sailed  from  Europe  to  the 
shores  of  North  America  to  secure  religious  liberty. 
The  foundation  of  the  United  States  of  America 
was  one  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  The  Magna 
Charta  of  England  was  to  be  applied  and  amplified 
in  the  new  Republic  and  independent  sovereignty 
across  the  Atlantic. 

Though  full  religious  liberty  is  good  American 
law,  Americans  who  carry  with  them  the  varied 
characteristics  of  the  nations  from  which  they  come 
have  never  up  to  the  present  been  freed  from  preju- 
dice, and  in  some  cases  animosity,  towards  one  or 
the  other  of  the  two  great  divisions  of  Western  P]u- 
rope,  the  Reformed  Church  and  the  Church  of  Rome. 
The  Anglican  or  Episcopal  Church  has  acted  as  a 
kind  of  via  media  between  the  two,  not  quite  sure 
whether  to  call  themselves  Protestant  or  Catholic, 
though  determined  not  to  be  Roman  or  Papal. 

If  we  do  not  misjudge  the  facts  of  American  life, 
there  has  been  more  opposition  by  Protestants  to- 
wards Roman  Catholics  than  by  Roman  Catholics 
towards  Protestants.  As  to  Roman  Catholics,  they 
are  so  captivated  by  the  breath  of  freedom  in  Amer- 
ican atmosphere,  a  contrast  to  the  close  air  of  the 
Catholic  countries  from  which  they  come,  that  they 
are  disinclined  to  restrict  the  rights  of  their  Protes- 
tant neigbors;  but  as  to  Protestants  they  instinc- 
tively feel  that  the  original  American  Colonies  and 
the  present  United  States  have  been  reserved  for 


112      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

their  exclusive  rights,  liberty  and  happiness.  Be- 
fore the  days  of  the  War  of  Independence,  the  Roman 
Catholics  in  Maryland  were  tolerant  of  others, 
though  due  perhaps  to  the  desire  to  secure  toleration 
for  themselves,  whilst  the  Puritans  of  New  England 
and  the  Episcopalians  of  Virginia  believed  in  reli- 
gious uniformity  but  not  in  religious  liberty.  The 
leaders  amongst  the  Protestants  for  complete  tolera- 
tion were  bodies  of  Christians  like  the  Quakers  and 
Anabaptists  in  Pennsylvania  and  Baptists  and 
Quakers  in  Rhode  Island.  William  Penn  and  Roger 
Williams  stand  forth  in  early  American  history  as 
unflinching  defenders  of  freedom  of  conscience, 
even  though  another's  conscience  should  dominate 
another's  life.  To  the  persecuted  body  of  Friends 
more  than  to  any  other  was  due  the  insertion  of  this 
principle  in  the  fundamental  law  of  many  of  the 
colonies,  including  the  Catholic  Colony  of  Lord  Bal- 
timore. These  are  the  words  of  William  Penn: 
"Thus  we  lay  a  foundation  for  after  ages  to  under- 
stand their  liberty  as  men  and  Christians,  that  they 
may  not  be  brought  into  bondage  but  by  their  own 
consent.  No  person  to  be  called  in  question  or  mo- 
lested for  his  conscience  or  for  worship  according  to 
his  conscience." 

With  the  coming  of  Irish  Catholics  to  America, 
and,  later,  of  those  from  southern  Europe,  there 
grew  up  political  factions  as  well  as  religious  de- 
nominations opposed  to  such  immigration.  The 
Know  Nothing  party  was  typical  of  this  feeling; 
and  both  the  great  Republican  and  Democratic 
parties  have  more  than  once  played  to  religious  prej- 
udices and  stirred  religious  suspicions  in  order  to 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.  113 

gain  votes  on  local  issues.  An  issue  between  the 
Church  of  Rome  and  Protestantism  has  never,  most 
fortunately,  been  made  a  national  one,  so  that  today 
the  President  of  the  United  States  is  a  Presbyterian, 
whilst  the  Chief  Justice  is  a  Roman  Catholic. 

Over  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  a  Judge  Dud- 
ley of  Massachusetts  left  an  endowment  for  lectures 
at  Harvard  University,  the  third  of  which,  as  stated 
in  the  will,  should  be  for  "The  Detecting  and  Con- 
victing and  Exposing  the  Idolatry  of  the  Romish 
Church,  their  Tyranny,  Usurpations,  Damnable 
Heresies,  Fatal  Errors,  Abominable  Superstitions, 
and  other  Crying  Wickednesses  in  their  high  places ; 
and  finally  that  the  Church  of  Rome  is  that  mystical 
Babylon,  that  man  of  sin,  that  apostate  Church 
spoken  of  in  the  New  Testament."  It  may  well  be 
understood  that  Harvard  University  of  late  years 
has  found  it  hard  to  comply  with  such  a  bequest. 
It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  here  and  there 
some  zealous  Roman  Catholic  has  also  spoken  dis- 
paragingly of  the  Protestant  sects,  all  heretics,  and 
doomed  to  damnation  as  outside  the  pale  of  the  true 
Church,  but  we  doubt  if  they  have  been  so  out- 
spoken, except  in  countries  pre-eminently  Roman 
Catholic.  Such  characterizations  are  not  deemed 
political  or  proper  in  "free  America". 

The  liberal  Congregationalist,  President  McGif- 
fert,  in  giving  one  of  these  Dudley  lectures  in  1909, 
gave  utterance  to  the  change  for  the  better  which 
has  taken  place  amongst  the  people  of  the  States, 
already  reputed  to  be  tolerant  and  required  by  law 
to  be  religiously  liberal.    These  are  his  words : 

"Many  of  the  animosities  of  the  fathers  are  no 


114       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

longer  felt  by  us ;  and  particularly  in  religious  mat- 
ters union  has  taken  the  place  of  division,  sympathy 
of  hostility,  co-operation  of  rivalry.  We  are  farther 
away  from  the  days  of  persecution,  and  less  nervous 
about  many  movements  and  institutions  that  our 
fathers  dreaded  unspeakably.  The  spirit  of  tolera- 
tion has  taken  hold  upon  us  all,  and  Protestants  can 
think  and  speak  kindly  of  men  of  other  faiths,  and 
can  co-operate  gladly  and  heartily  with  them  as 
opportunity  offers  for  the  promotion  of  good  ends 
dear  to  them  all." 

To  see  how  far  we  have  advanced  in  the  spirit  of 
brotherliness  as  between  Protestant  and  Roman 
Catholic,  we  need  only  cite  the  great  Missionary 
Conference  held  in  Edinburgh  in  1910,  under  the 
leadership  of  Dr.  John  R.  Mott,  when  all  mention  of 
missions  to  Roman  Catholic  countries  was  omitted, 
when  a  fraternal  message  was  received  from  a  Ro- 
man Catholic  Bishop,  as  well  as  from  a  Greek 
Church  Bishop,  and  when  the  hope  was  expressed 
that  at  the  next  conference  all  Branches  of  the 
Christian  Church  might  be  represented.  At  that 
Conference  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Brent,  who  in  going 
to  the  Phillipines  determined  to  carry  on  no  propa- 
ganda among  Catholic  Christians,  gave  utterance  to 
these  sentiments  of  unity  and  fraternity: 

"There  are  four  things  I  want  to  touch  upon. 
Let  us  treat  the  Roman  Catholics  always  as  Chris- 
tians, and  let  us  believe  that  they  are  true  and  sin- 
cere Christians  until  it  is  proved  to  us  that  they  are 
otherwise.  In  Roman  Catholic  countries  especially 
let  us  always  preach  constructive  truth  and  not  de- 
structive truth,  and  show  that  we  do  not  intend  to 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.  115 

demolish  our  neighbors'  walls  to  get  stones  for  our 
own.  In  the  next  place,  let  us  be  sure  that  we  get 
an  intelligent  grasp  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith, 
polity,  and  methods  before  we  talk  publicly  about 
them,  and  let  us  be  sure  that  we  do  not  commit  that 
most  grievous  of  all  sins,  slandering  another  Church. 
Slander  is  always  an  evil  in  any  cause,  but  for  one 
Church  to  be  guilty  of  slandering  another  is  a  dou- 
ble sin  in  the  sight  of  God." 

As  an  incentive  to  this  unity,  I  have,  amongst 
other  appeals,  made  application  to  Cardinal  Gibbons 
and  Archbishop  Ireland,  both  of  whom  I  have  met 
in  the  United  States,  that  they  delegate  to  our  con- 
ferences of  all  Religions  one  of  their  own  men  to  co- 
operate with  us  in  the  research  for  spiritual  truth. 

Ultimate  unity  between  all  branches  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  may  never  come,  but  it  may  be  advanced 
to  the  stage  where  disunion,  schism  and  discord  will 
be  regarded  as  a  scandal  to  those  who  worship  the 
same  God  and  alike  follow  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
the  Christ.  One  way  to  bring  this  about  is  for  the 
Protestant  to  study  how  and  in  what  respects  he 
may  appreciate  the  Roman  Catholics,  or,  as  Bishop 
Brent  has  said,  have  *'an  intelligent  grasp  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith,  polity  and  methods." 


The  first  matter  of  appreciation  is  that  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  as  the  Russian  or  Greek 
Church,  holds  with  the  Protestants  to  the  same  card- 
inal doctrines  of  Christianity.  That  there  is  diver- 
gence of  belief  between  these  great  branches  of  the 


I IC)      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

church  must  be  acknowledged,  but  in  how  many 
essential  truths  do  they  all  see  eye  to  eye!  The 
points  of  agreement  are  explained  equally  well  by 
Eastern  and  Western  Church,  and  by  the  many  de- 
nominations of  the  Reformed  Faith.  Whilst  possi- 
bly the  liberal  school  of  thought  amongst  Protes- 
tants might  criticise  some  of  the  dogmas  and  polity 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  Orthodox  bodies  have 
reason  for  being  pleased  that  in  main  doctrines  there 
is  practical  agreement.  Protestant  and  Catholic 
alike  subscribe  to  the  same  ancient  creeds  of  the 
Church,  Nicene,  Athanasian  and  Apostles'  Creed. 
The  foundation  principle,  as  of  Judaism  and  Islam, 
and  of  the  primitive  faith  of  all  peoples  is  in  the 
words  *'I  believe  in  God,  the  Father  Almighty, 
Maker  of  heaven  and  earth."  The  orthodox  teach- 
ing of  both  Protestants  and  Catholics  concerning 
man  is  also  in  substance  the  same,  namely,  the  sin- 
fulness of  man  as  derived  from  the  fall  of  the  first 
man,  and  the  need  of  a  divine  Saviour  to  forgive  and 
redeem.  All  the  great  branches  of  the  Christian 
Church  likewise  teach  the  divine-human  nature  of 
Jesus  Christ,  or  the  doctrine  of  his  immaculate  con- 
ception and  the  Incarnation.  They  agree  concern- 
ing the  doctrines  of  Atonement  and  Justification,  of 
Christ's  crucifixion,  resurrection  and  ascension,  of 
the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  the  Comforter,  of 
regeneration  and  sanctification,  of  immortality  and 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  of  a  Day  of  Judgment 
and  future  retribution,  of  rewards  and  punishments, 
of  prayer,  worship  and  deeds  of  penitence  in  this 
life  and  of  heavenly  bliss  in  the  life  beyond.  The 
great  Protestant  bodies  and  the  Church  of  Rome 


THE  CHURCH   OF  ROME.  117 

recognize  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  and  the 
organism  of  the  Church  with  its  orders  and  sacra- 
ments, all  dependent  in  some  way  on  Christ  and  the 
Apostles.  In  fact  Christianity  is  one  Religion,  and 
the  groundwork  of  Calvinistic,  Arminian,  Lutheran 
or  Anglican  theology  was  laid  centuries  ago,  even 
before  the  division  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
Churches. 

Christianity,  in  fact,  is  one  Religion,  though  the 
Christian  Church  be  divided.  The  heresies  of  the 
early  Church — doctrines  of  a  minority — are  heresies 
of  Christendom  today,  whether  Greek  Church, 
Church  of  Rome,  or  the  Protestant  Churches — doc- 
trines still  of  a  minority.  In  all  communions  there 
are  both  conservative  and  liberal  tendencies;  the 
former  are  the  Orthodox,  and  of  the  majority,  and 
they  largely  agree,  whether  as  seen  in  the  one  com- 
munion of  the  other.  So,  Protestant  liberalism  and 
Roman  Catholic  modernism  are  essentially  the  same, 
though  the  break  with  the  iron-clad  formularies  of 
the  past  is  not  always  at  the  same  point.  It  would 
seem  that  if  any  division  were  to  take  place  in  Chris- 
tianity or  the  Christian  organization,  it  would  be 
between  these  conservative  and  liberal  tendencies, 
as  in  other  religious  Faiths,  rather  than  in  other 
matters  which  separate  the  Protestant  and  the  Ro- 
man Catholic.  The  conservative  Protestant  and  the 
conservative  Roman  Catholic  are  at  one  in  the  great 
doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  for  either  to  appreci- 
ate the  other  ought  to  be  easy,  as  within  the  bounds 
of  Christian  courtesy  and  intellectual  sympathy.  So, 
too,  the  liberal  Protestant  and  the  liberal  Roman 


H8      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

Catholic  should  find  it  possible  to  work  together  in 
the  service  of  humanity. 

IL 

A  second  feature  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
which  every  Protestant,  and  in  fact  every  man,  is 
bound  to  appreciate  is  its  unparalleled  organization. 
The  whole  world  is  mapped  out  into  a  complete  sys- 
tem. All  parts  of  the  system  are  unified  in  the 
Papacy.  The  Supreme  Pontiff  is  certainly  the  great- 
est ruler  on  the  earth,  his  sway  extending  into  every 
country,  amongst  all  races,  all  alike  called  his  chil- 
dren. He  is  rightly  called  in  Chinese  the  Emperor 
of  the  religion  or  the  Church.  From  him  as  Holy 
Father,  the  system  works  out  in  perfect  symmetry 
and  gradation,  far  surpassing  the  power  and  order- 
liness of  the  Roman  Empire  in  days  of  the  Caesars, 
down  through  the  Papal  Court,  the  Cardinals,  the 
Archbishops,  Bishops  and  priests  to  every  humble 
member  of  the  Church,  whatever  his  colour,  class  or 
nationality,  going  to  the  same  Mass.  The  Orders  of 
the  Church,  whether  Jesuit  or  Franciscan,  in  their 
way  develop  to  the  highest  proficiency  the  organiz- 
ing ability  of  the  leaders  of  the  Church.  Leaving 
out  for  the  moment  the  religious  or  divine  aspects 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  it  stands  forth  amongst  all 
human  organizations,  all  forms  of  government,  all 
societies  or  associations,  as  the  most  complete  and 
compact,  the  most  universal  and  eflftcient,  organiza- 
tion that  the  world  has  ever  known.  The  Holy 
Father  who  sits  at  the  Vatican  in  Rome,  whether 
regarded  as  Vicar  of  God  or  not,  commands  the  hom- 


THE  CHURCH   OF  ROME.  119 

age  of  more  men  clear  round  the  globe  than  a  Caesar 
or  a  Constantine,  a  Charlemagne  or  a  Napoleon,  ever 
dreamed  to  be  his  destiny.  The  whole  vast  machin- 
ery works,  moreover,  smoothly.  There  is  now  and 
then  friction,  but  this  only  shows  the  need  of  a  little 
oiling;  the  machine  goes  on  forever.  Even  when 
some  part  of  the  machinery  is  taken  away,  the  pow- 
erhouse is  as  mighty  as  ever ;  the  great  wheels  move 
round;  and  the  little  wheels  have  all  their  places, 
indicative  of  the  master  mind  that  directs  all. 

There  are  differences  of  opinion;  there  are  even 
different  societies,  each  with  its  Father  Superior  or 
Mother  Superior;  but  there  are  no  sects  in  the 
Church  of  Rome;  sectarianism  is  swallowed  up  in 
the  unison  of  the  whole,  centered  in  the  sovereign 
Pontiff  at  Rome.  That  which  brought  about  a  Prot- 
estantism— namely,  the  Papacy — is  that  which 
really  gives  both  unity  and  strength  to  the  Church 
of  Rome. 

Here  in  China  an  illustration  is  afforded  of  the 
symmetry  of  this  wonderful  Church  organization. 
The  whole  country  is  divided  into  a  number  of  dio- 
ceses, and  in  each  diocese  some  one  Society  or  Order, 
whether  of  the  Jesuits,  Lazarists,  Dominicans,  or 
some  other,  is  exclusively  at  work.  This  is  the  per- 
fection of  mission  comity.  The  particular  Society  is 
seldom  named;  all  that  the  Chinese  through  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land  ever  hear  of  is  the 
Religion  of  the  Heavenly  Lord — the  one  Church  of 
Rome. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  two  great  organizing 
minds  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  one  in  the  Church 
of  Rome,  and  the  other  amongst  the  Church  Reform- 


120      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

ers,  were  Loyola,  who  was  founder  and  first  General 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  Calvin,  who  drew  up  the 
Ordinances  for  a  Puritan  State  in  Geneva,  both  fel- 
low students  in  Paris,  both  under  ecclesiastical  trial 
during  the  same  years,  and  both  organizing  new  or- 
ganizations within  the  Church  in  the  same  year, 
1541. 

Not  merely  the  admirers  of  Presbyterianism,  of 
Methodism,  whose  distinct  characteristic  was  meth- 
od, of  Episcopacy  with  the  primacy  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  of  the  Lutheran  Churches 
on  the  Continent,  can  readily  see  the  attraction  of 
the  Roman  organization,  but  all  who  belong  to  more 
independent  bodies  and  believe  in  individualism, 
must  also  acknowledge  that  no  religion  and  no  na- 
tion has  ever  produced  such  a  complete  and  all-em- 
bracing system  of  government  as  that  which  through 
the  centuries  has  been  unfolded  in  the  Church  of 
Rome.  As  one  has  well  said:  "The  realm  over 
which  Augustus  Caesar  swayed  his  sceptre  was  nar- 
row compared  with  that  of  his  spiritual  successor. 
The  encyclical  letter  which  emanates  from  the  Quiri- 
nal  Palace  is  addressed  to  one  half  the  civilized 
world,  and  binds  the  consciences  of  a  fourth  of  the 
human  race." 

in. 

A  third  reason  why  every  Protestant  should 
appreciate  the  Church  of  Rome  is  its  high  ideal  con- 
cerning the  Church  of  God.  What  has  already  been 
said  of  the  Church  of  Rome  as  a  great  organization 
concerns  aspects  human  and  practical.  What  is  now 
to  be  explained  concerns  divine  and  idealistic  ele- 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.  121 

ments.  We  now  deal  not  so  much  with  the  Church 
of  Rome  as  with  the  Roman  conception  of  what  is 
called  in  the  early  creeds  ''the  Holy  Catholic 
Church." 

According  to  ideas  largely  prevalent  amongst  Ro- 
man Catholic  thinkers,  the  beginnings  of  Christian- 
ity were  centered  in  the  establishment  on  earth  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God  or  Heaven.  To  the  Jews  this 
thought  imparted  enthusiasm  and  hope,  as  being  the 
larger  realization  not  only  of  the  Church  of  God 
centered  on  Mount  Zion,  but  of  the  longings  and  de- 
sires through  many  centuries  that  a  Messiah  would 
come  to  re-establish  a  Kingdom  of  God's  chosen 
people. 

The  message,  "The  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at 
hand"  was  a  germinal  thought  in  the  mind  of  Jesus 
and  of  his  disciples.  In  due  time  the  word  "Church" 
supplanted  the  word  "Kingdom",  but  the  thought 
remained  the  same.  That  which  existed  in  heaven 
was  some  time  to  exist  over  all  the  earth — allegiance 
to  God  as  Sovereign  and  to  Jesus  Christ  His  Vice- 
gerent on  earth.  That  which  previously  existed 
amongst  the  people  of  Israel  was  now  to  exist 
amongst  the  true  Israel,  who  followed  Christ,  name- 
ly, a  society  of  God's  elect,  with  Jesus  as  its  head. 
The  power  first  held  by  Jesus  alone  was  transmitted 
to  the  Apostles,  and  through  them  to  the  Church  at 
large  and  to  the  bishops  in  charge  of  the  souls  of 
men.  The  Church  was  the  body  of  the  risen  Lord ; 
and  His  divine  nature  passed  over  to  the  Church 
down  to  the  end  of  time.  There  was  only  "one  faith, 
one  hope,  one  baptism ;"  there  was  only  one  Saviour, 
one  religion,  one  Church.    Whilst  the  adherents  of 


122      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

other  Faiths  have  been  accustomed  to  use  the  word 
''Religion",  and  seldom  the  word  ''Church",  the 
Christians  have  almost  exclusively  used  the  word 
"Church",  and  but  seldom  the  word  "Religion". 
This  is  seen  in  China  when  only  within  the  last  few 
3'ears  have  Confucianists,  Buddhists  and  Taoists  or- 
ganized themselves  into  Societies,  using  the  same 
term  as  Christians  use  for  the  Church.  Amongst 
Protestants,  on  the  other  hand,  the  term  Christian 
Religion  has  taken  the  place  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Amongst  Roman  Catholics  the  Church  is  supreme, 
that  which  was  organized  by  Christ  to  carry  forth 
His  truth. 

The  early  Church  was  one,  though  there  were 
many  local  churches.  It  was  not  long  before  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  was  recognized  as  successor  of  St. 
Peter,  as  vicar  of  God,  as  Vicegerent  of  Christ.  Even 
when  this  primacy  was  not  accepted,  there  was  no 
doubt  concerning  the  oneness,  the  sacredness,  the 
divine  character,  of  the  Christian  Church.  Neither 
was  the  Church  divided  into  the  visible  and  invisi- 
ble :  the  Church  was  one,  with  both  visible  and  invi- 
sible, external  and  internal,  characteristics. 

It  was  generally  believed  that  the  Church  was  the 
living  embodiment  of  Christ.  This  elevated  the 
Church  as  a  divine  organism  far  above  all  organiza- 
tions of  human  device  and  human  control.  Of  this 
there  was  but  little  doubt ;  such  dispute  as  there  was, 
and  has  continued  to  be,  centred  around  the  degree 
of  power  and  authority  which  rested  in  the  Bishop 
of  Rome,  later  designated  as  the  Pope,  and  with  the 
great  oecumenical  Councils.  The  Church  of  Rome, 
beyond  these  particular  matters  of  dispute,  has  with 


THE  CHURCH   OF  ROME.  123 

other  Christians  laid  great  stress  on  the  grandeur 
and  significance  of  the  Church  idea.  All  the  Eastern 
Churches  and  most  of  the  Anglicans,  Lutherans  and 
Presbyterians,  amongst  the  Protestants,  have  been 
influenced  bj^  the  same  ideal,  not  of  ecclesiasticism 
but  of  God's  Kingdom  as  represented  in  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  To  the  Roman  Catholic  this  ideal  may 
be  blurred  by  the  other  thought  that  only  the  Church 
of  Rome  is  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  that  all  others, 
whilst  equally  Christian,  have  withdrawn  from  the 
Church  and  are  guilty  of  schism;  but  this  shadow 
on  the  light  should  not  lessen  our  reverence  for  the 
light  itself. 

'The  genius  of  Catholicism  is  union  and  co-opera- 
tion, a  common  purpose  and  common  labour  for  its 
accomplishment."  This  unity  is  the  essence  of  Ca- 
tholicism, though  not  always  of  Romanism.  This 
unity,  this  Catholicity,  is  none  the  less  a  dominant 
note  in  the  teachings  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 

In  the  Roman  conception  of  the  Church  there  is 
also  the  thought  of  historical  continuity,  the  Church 
of  today  being  traced  back  to  Christ  who  is  ''the 
Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church."  In  the  Church 
the  Christian  of  today  is  linked  with  all  the  saints 
who  have  gone  before.  "The  communion  of  saints" 
is  inseparably  joined  with  a  belief  in  "the  holy  Cath- 
olic Church."  In  comparison.  Protestantism  ap- 
pears as  isolation,  but  even  for  the  one  who  loves 
isolation  it  ought  not  to  be  hard  to  see  the  attraction 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  conception  and  to  express 
appreciation. 

It  is  this  high  idealism,  characterizing  the  Church 
of  Christ,  this  sacredness,  unity,  catholicity  and  con- 


124      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

tinuity,  which  keeps  the  Modernist  movement  from 
leaving  the  Church  of  Rome  and  joining  with  the 
liberal  element  in  Protestant  Churches.  This  fact 
makes  clear  the  reasonableness  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  concerning  the  inner  life,  the  soul,  of  the 
Kingdom  which  Christ  inaugurated  and  of  the  Uni- 
versal Church  which  He  came  to  found. 

IV. 

A  fourth  attractive  feature  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  is  the  repose  which  it  offers  for  doubt  and  un- 
certainty in  the  acceptance  of  the  Church's  author- 
ity. John  Henry  Newman  is  not  the  only  one  who 
has  journeyed  to  the  Church  of  Rome  that  he  might 
thereby  find  peace  of  mind.  As  Professor  William 
Adams  Brown  has  said,  "The  joy  which  sings  in  the 
closing  chapter  of  his  Apologia  is  not  the  satisfaction 
which  comes  from  insight  into  truth,  but  the  peace 
which  follows  the  relinquishment  of  a  hopeless 
quest.'' 

Every  one  to  find  peace  in  his  intellectual  specu- 
lations, in  his  strivings  after  truth,  in  his  bewilder* 
ment  over  clashing  theories  and  varied  teachers, 
must  at  last  fall  back  on  what  to  him  is  taken  as  au- 
thority. One  grows  weary  of  searching ;  he  is  satis- 
fied only  with  something  final,  decisive  and  authori- 
tative. The  Roman  Catholic  places  authority  in  the 
Church,  and  generally  in  the  Papacy  and  the  Church 
Councils.  Most  Protestants  have  made  the  Bible 
their  religious  authority,  ''the  infallible  rule  of  faith 
and  practice."  Some  years  ago  I  was  delegate  to  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 


THE  CHURCH  OP  ROME.  125 

United  States,  when  Prof.  Charles  Briggs,  my  es- 
teemed teacher,  was  turned  out  of  the  ministry  for 
teaching,  amongst  other  heresies,  that  there  were 
three  sources  of  authority,  the  Bible,  the  Church  and 
the  Reason  or  Christian  consciousness.  The  distinc- 
tive liberal  element  in  Protestantism  makes  one's 
own  Reason,  or  enlightened  conscience,  or  the  gen- 
eral Christian  consciousness  of  the  best  men,  as  the 
authoritative  voice  on  religious  matters.  It  is  the 
reason  that  examines  the  records  and  text  of  the 
Scriptures,  that  weighs  the  dicta  of  the  Church,  and 
decides  what  to  accept  and  what  to  reject.  Finally, 
for  nearly  all  Christians,  after  disputing  with  each 
other  over  these  various  forms  of  authority,  there 
will  probably  be  a  consensus  that  the  final  word,  the 
authoritative  statement,  the  teaching  clear  and  rest- 
ful, bringing  peace  and  joy,  is  the  man  Christ  Jesus, 
the  Logos  of  God.  Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke,  at  present* 
United  States  Minister  at  The  Hague,  has  well  said : 
''Christ  is  the  Light  of  all  Scripture.  Christ  is  the 
Master  of  holy  reason.  Christ  is  the  sole  Lord  and 
Life  of  the  true  Church.  By  His  word  we  test  all 
doctrines,  conclusions,  and  commands.  On  His  word 
we  build  all  faith.  This  is  the  source  of  authority 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

It  is  my  opinion  that  in  some  such  statement  as 
this,  Protestant,  Roman  Catholic,  Greek,  Koptic 
and  Armenian,  can  all  draw  near  each  other.  The 
Protestant  can  agree  with  the  Catholic  that  the 
Church  possesses  authority;  and  the  Catholic  can 
agree  with  the  Protestant  that  the  Bible  possesses 
authority,  and  both  will  agree  that  Christ,  or  per- 
Written  in  1915. 


126      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

haps  we  should  say,  God,  is  the  final  source  of  all 
authority.  If  the  soul,  if  one's  thoughts,  if  one's 
aspirations,  are  left  in  a  state  of  uncertainty,  there 
can  be  no  peace  or  repose.  Discussions  concerning 
constitutions  are  interesting  and  profitable  for  a 
time.  Finally  the  time  comes,  when  the  nation 
grows  tired  of  such  discussions  and  demands  a  defi- 
nite constitution,  however  imperfect  it  may  be.  So 
the  average  Christian,  after  full  play  of  his  inde- 
pendence, craves  for  some  strong  word:  'This  is 
the  way,  walk  ye  in  it.  This  is  the  truth,  accept  it." 
Authority  is  something  solid  on  which  to  build. 
In  the  last  resort,  one  can  find  rest  only  in  God.  He 
speaks  with  authority ;  He  rules  with  authority.  The 
Bible,  the  Church,  the  Sacraments,  one's  own  reason, 
are  all  ways  in  which  God  reveals  His  authoritative 
word,  but  behind  all  is  God,  and  He  it  is  who  gives 
authority  to  one  and  all. 

V. 

The  Church  of  Rome  cultivates  the  spirit  and 
demeanour  of  reverence.  As  Miss  Frances  Cobbe 
has  said,  "Religion  is  reverence."  Religion  means  a 
right  attitude  of  man  towards  God.  Reverence  is 
this  right  attitude.  As  for  man  there  should  be  re- 
spect; for  God,  reverence.  ''Honour  all  men;  fear 
God ;  honour  the  King."  "The  fear  of  God — rever- 
ence for  God — is  the  beginning  of  wisdom." 

In  Protestantism,  amongst  some  of  its  exponents, 
there  is  a  familiarity  in  religious  expressions,  in 
prayer  and  in  preaching,  in  general  demeanour  in 
the  sanctuary,  and  in  discarding  of  the  term  sacred, 
that  makes  Christianity  appear  commonplace,  rather 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.  127 

than  exalts  it  to  the  highest  position  in  man's  affec- 
tions and  worship.  The  Roman  Catholic  system 
trains  character  of  another  kind.  Its  worship  is 
dignified,  solemn,  stately,  inspiring,  reverential. 
Entrance  into  the  Church,  as  the  entrance  into  the 
mosque  of  Muhammadans,  is  in  the  form,  if  not  the 
spirit,  of  reverence.  A  reverential  demeanour  is 
more  conducive  to  a  reverential  heart,  than  is  a  care- 
less and  thoughtless  manner.  The  Catholic  kneels 
and  is  quiet.  Protestants  in  too  many  cases  have 
turned  their  church  buildings  into  clubs,  their  pul- 
pit into  a  stage,  and  reverence  into  amusement.  The 
Catholic  approaches  the  Mass  in  feelings  of  awe; 
the  Protestant  in  too  many  cases  makes  the  commun- 
ion table  as  of  so  little  importance  that  he  stays 
away  and  feels  satisfied.  With  the  Catholic  the 
Church,  the  priest,  the  sacraments,  and  even  the 
cemetery  are  all  sacred,  that  is,  set  apart  to  God. 
With  the  Protestant  nothing  is  common  or  unclean, 
or  rather  nothing  is  sacred  and  all  things  are  the 
same.  The  reverential  quality  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  deserves  the  admiration  and  also  the  imita- 
tion of  all  Protestants.  In  this  the  Episcopal  serv- 
ice has  set  an  example,  retaining  that  which  is  so 
fundamental  to  the  teachings  of  the  ancient  Church. 

VI. 

Along  with  this  reverential  aspect  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  is  its  cultivation  of  the  devotional 
spirit.  Reverence  and  worship,  prayer  and  devo- 
tion, these  are  the  twin  virtues  of  religion. 

Most  Protestant  Churches  are  closed,  except  in 


128      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

time  of  public  service ;  every  Roman  Catholic  Church 
has  its  doors  always  unlocked,  that  the  v^eary  and 
the  troubled  may  enter  within  and  in  the  quietness 
of  the  sacred  place,  kneel  before  the  altar,  silently 
repeat  the  devotional  utterances  of  an  established 
ritual,  and  amid  hallowed  surroundings  lay  open  the 
heart  to  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  literature  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is 
rich  in  books  of  devotion.  Prayers,  hymns,  medita- 
tions, exhortations,  and  confessions,  poured  forth 
from  the  very  depths  of  the  soul,  are  the  treasures 
left  to  coming  ages  by  saintly  men  and  women  who 
lived  near  to  God  and  felt  God's  thoughts.  The 
books  of  devotion  of  a  Bernard  and  an  a  Kempis,  of 
a  St.  Theresa  and  an  Assisi,  are  not  for  Roman 
Catholics  alone,  but  for  all  Christians  who  feel  the 
need  of  divine  grace  and  the  value  of  the  upward 
look. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  many  ways  for 
cultivating  and  satisfying  the  devotional  nature. 
Quiet  places,  a  Retreat,  the  confessional,  a  mission, 
are  all  meant  to  help  one  in  his  struggle  to  be  better. 
The  Church,  with  its  altar,  places  one  in  the  right 
surroundings  for  being  devotional.  Whilst  escape 
from  the  world  is  impossible  for  most  Christians, 
there  are  ways  provided  for  making  this  escape  a 
reality,  even  if  only  for  a  day  or  an  hour. 

VII. 

Along  with  this  devotional  character  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  it  cultivates  another  form  of  devo- 
tion, that  of  devotion  to  the  needs  and  sorrows  of 


THE  CHURCH  OF  ROME.  129 

fellow-men.  All  through  the  centuries,  and  amongsi 
all  peoples,  and  in  all  nations,  there  have  been  those 
who  have  denied  themselves  all  that  they  might  serve 
others.  Self-sacrifice  stands  forth  as  one  charm  of 
the  great  body  of  sisters  of  charity.  The  meaning 
of  entering  the  priesthood  or  a  sisterhood  is  that  of 
giving  up  all  family  ties,  all  personal  property,  and 
being  set  apart  for  the  service  of  the  Church. 

The  devoted  lives  of  those  who  thus  deny  them- 
selves all  has  ever  won  the  praise  of  men.  Such 
speak  more  powerfully  than  any  sermon  the  essence 
of  Christianity,  which  is  the  love  of  God  and  the 
compassion  of  Christ.  As  Christ  healed  the  lepers, 
and  turned  not  from  them,  so  there  have  been  those 
in  the  Catholic  Church  who  have  not  shrunk  from 
the  most  repulsive  diseases  and  the  most  perilous 
situations.  In  my  early  school-days  I  was  attracted 
by  a  priest  with  whom  I  was  travelling,  who  had 
just  passed  through  the  scourge  of  the  yellow  fever 
in  one  of  our  southern  cities. 

Such  are  the  ones  who  have  gone  forth  to  preach 
the  Gospel  and  proclaim  the  Church  to  the  millions 
outside  the  pale,  and  in  doing  so  they  have  lived  sim- 
ply, yea,  with  self-denial  and  in  true  devotion  to 
others.  The  Church  of  Rome  was  missionary,  before 
any  Protestant  body,  struggling  for  existence,  had 
yet  thought  of  being  one.  In  India  and  China  and 
Japan  they  were  the  advanced  guard  preparing  the 
way  for  us  Protestants. 

VIII. 

The  Church  of  Rome  has  had  a  genius  for 
adapting  itself  to  all  conditions  of  men.    It  is  stable 


130      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

and  stationary  in  dogma  and  creed ;  it  may  discoun- 
tenance progressiveness,  but  it  includes  within  the 
bosom  of  the  one  Church  all  varieties  of  Christians, 
conservative  and  progressive,  theological  and  social- 
istic. As  priests  they  may  be  warned  not  to  go  too 
far,  but  they  are  still  members  of  the  Church.  The 
very  learned  and  the  masses  of  the  ignorant,  the 
aristocracy  and  the  nobility,  and  the  semi-civilized 
and  the  poor,  all  alike  meet  in  the  same  place  of 
worship  and  hear  the  same  words  of  absolution. 

The  Church  of  Rome  has  gone  round  the  world 
and  adapted  itself  to  every  form  of  government  and 
to  all  the  varied  social  usages  of  different  nations  of 
men.  All  minds,  all  classes,  all  races,  find  something 
in  the  Church  of  Rome  to  attract  them.  And  the 
Church  knows  how  to  use  all ;  however  eccentric  one 
may  be,  the  Church  can  give  him  some  task  to  do. 
This  adaptability  of  the  Church  of  Rome  proves  that 
it  is  part  of  the  Christian  Church  and  has  a  mission 
in  all  the  world  and  to  all  ages.  This  quality  the 
Protestant  does  well  to  appreciate. 

IX. 

The  Church  of  Rome  has  also  done  much  for 
the  cause  of  learning  and  art.  The  inspiration  of 
Christian  truths  has  stirred  the  soul  to  the  highest 
music  and  to  the  most  magnificent  architecture,  and 
to  pure  sculpture  and  beautiful  painting.  Many  a 
cathedral  is  the  nation's  art-gallery.  The  Church  of 
Rome  has  steadily  cherished  the  aesthetic  and  artis- 
tic feelings  of  men.  It  has  made  use  of  men's  skill 
for  magnifying  the  mission  of  the  Church  and  re- 


THE  CHURCH   OF  ROME.  131 

vealing  the  purpose  of  God  amongst  the  children  of 
men.  The  Church  in  thus  making  use  of  all  forms 
of  art  has  set  them  apart  to  the  sole  service  of  God. 
The  result  is  sacred  art,  sacred  music,  sacred  song, 
and  a  sacred  edifice  where  men  meet  for  worship. 
With  the  highest  ideals  men  have  been  inspired  to 
their  work  of  art  far  beyond  the  possibility  of  low 
motives  and  common-place  themes. 

The  world  would  be  the  poorer,  if  there  had  been 
no  Church  of  Rome  thus  to  utilize  and  exalt  the  art 
of  pure-minded  men.  They,  too,  were  inspired  like 
the  men  who  wrote  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  their 
workmanship  has  ever  been  an  inspiration,  a  lamp 
to  the  feet,  the  candle  of  the  Lord,  a  means  of  grace. 
These  excellences  of  the  Church  of  Rome  most 
Protestants  will  be  ready  to  appreciate. 

X. 

Having  viewed  these  nine  features  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  which  the  Protestant  would  do 
well  to  appreciate,  there  remains  one  more  idea, 
deserving  careful  consideration,  and  that  is.  Prote- 
stantism should  so  appreciate  Roman  Catholicism, 
and  Roman  Catholicism  should  so  appreciate  Prote- 
stantism, that  they  will  gladly  join  forces  in  combat- 
ing materialism,  godlessness  and  evil  in  the  world. 
They  can  unite  in  works  of  mercy;  they  can  co- 
operate in  establishing  hospitals  and  orphanages; 
they  can  cheer  each  other  in  the  proclamation  of  the 
Gospel,  and  the  spread  of  spiritual  ideas,  and  the 
cultivation  of  the  spiritual  life.  Whatever  our  views 
concerning  the  Holy  Pontiff,  we  can  rejoice  at  all 


132       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

his  efforts  for  the  bringing  in  the  day  of  peace,  of 
Christian  brotherhood,  of  Church  unity  and  the  fel- 
lowship of  the  spirit.  All  advance  made  by  the 
Church  of  Rome  in  establishing  a  Kingdom  of  right- 
eousness should  be  reciprocated  by  all  Protestants. 
As  another  has  said,  **Let  Catholicism  add  to  Prot- 
estantism its  spirit  of  worship,  its  sacramental 
life,  its  unwavering  faith,  and  its  rich  heritage  of 
continuity  with  the  historic  past.  And  let  Protes- 
tantism, on  the  other  hand,  add  to  Catholicism  its 
fearlessness  of  learning,  its  stern  conception  of 
individual  responsibility,  and  its  emphasis  upon  per- 
sonal religion.  So  shall  we  have  in  the  great  Church 
of  the  future,  not  an  impoverished  and  shadowy 
form  of  Christianity  fenced  about  with  barriers  of 
exclusion,  but  a  Church  which  is  enriched  with  all 
the  wealth  of  the  Christian  ages."  Then  will  come 
fulfilment  of  the  petition  of  Christ,  ''that  they  all 
may  be  one." 


CHAPTER  VII 

A   TRINITARIAN'S   APPRECIATION   OF   THE 
UNITARIAN 

In  previous  discussions  we  have  noted  that  con- 
cord between  Christianity  and  Judaism  or  Islam  is 
harder  to  attain  than  between  Christianity  and  the 
Pagan  Faiths,  Confucianism,  Taoism  and  Buddhism, 
and  still  more  is  it  harder  between  the  Protestant 
form  of  Christianity  and  the  Church  of  Rome.  We 
are  now  to  notice  that  the  bond  of  union  and  concord 
between  Trinitarian,  and  Unitarian  Christians 
within  the  same  fold  of  Protestantism  is  in  many 
cases  weaker  than  in  the  relations  already  consid- 
ered. To  be  more  precise  the  unwillingness  to  unite 
is  more  on  the  part  of  the  Trinitarian  Christian 
than  of  the  Unitarian.  This  does  not  mean  that  the 
Trinitarian  has  no  good  reason  for  keeping  separate 
from  the  small  body  called  Unitarians,  or  even  from 
Unitarian  individuals,  but  it  means  that  this  is  a 
divergence  needing  to  be  recognized.  Most  Trini- 
tarians, it  must  be  said,  have  no  fellowship  with 
Unitarians  out  of  strong  convictions.  Their  convic- 
tions are,  indeed,  so  strong,  that  they  look  askance 
at  an  orthodox  preacher  who  preaches  in  a  Uni- 
tarian pulpit,  or  who  extends  courteous  hospitality 
to  any  one  who  is  a  Unitarian,  whether  of  the  evan= 
gelical  or  radical  school. 

133 


134      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

It  will  help  to  make  clear  this  peculiar  condition 
which  exists  between  Christians,  if  I  state  that  when 
over  a  year  ago  I  invited  a  Unitarian  preacher  to 
speak  at  the  International  Institute,  an  Institute 
open  to  all,  and  extended  to  him  the  hospitality  of 
our  home,  I  was  not  long  in  experiencing  that  my 
tolerance  and  good-nature  were  viewed  as  a  heresy 
and  an  evil,  and  that  as  punishment  for  my  misdeeds 
fellowship  with  the  Institute  or  with  myself  person- 
ally, and  in  some  cases  liberal  financial  support, 
must  come  to  an  end.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that 
the  kind  of  concord  to  be  considered  and  aimed  at 
in  today's  discussion  is  not  of  a  theoretic  character, 
but  is  linked  with  actual  experience.  It  may  be  that 
having  been  made  to  suffer  for  my  views,  the  pres- 
entation of  these  views  will  be  received  with  more 
than  usual  interest. 

How  it  is  that  a  tolerant  attitude  towards  those 
who  profess  Unitarianism  is  worthy  of  disapproval, 
if  not  of  censure,  is  best  seen  in  the  following  quo- 
tation from  an  esteemed  friend,  long  a  liberal  sup- 
porter of  the  International  Institute,  and  a  devoted 
Christian  of  the  Episcopalian  body,  but  whose  an- 
cestry was  tinged  with  Unitarianism : 

*To  put  Christianity  on  a  merely  humanitarian 
basis  and  be  silent  as  to  its  unique  and  divine  origin 
and  claim  is,  to  my  mind,  to  alter  and  diminish  the 
good  news  that  Christ  brought  from  heaven  and 
suggests  a  doubt  in  the  reality  of  our  faith."  As  a 
matter  of  fact  Unitarians  do  not  reject  the  divine 
character  of  Christianity. 

One  preliminary  remark  is  needed  for  under- 
standing the  position  we  take.     Both  the  Roman 


THE   UNITARIAN.  135 

Catholic  Church  and  Protestant  denominations  have 
a  conservative  and  a  liberal  school.  With  the  former 
the  liberal  religious  thinkers  are  called  Modernists. 
The  Presbyterians,  Congregationalists,  Episcopal- 
ians and  nearly  every  other  denomination  contain 
those  who  are  liberal  in  their  views  and  spirit. 
Liberal  religion  is,  therefore,  a  general  term,  and 
is  not  limited  to  Unitarians  and  Universalists.  Not 
being  a  conservative  in  my  theological  thinking,  my 
theme  could  not  well  be  "A  Conservative  Christian's 
Appreciation  of  Liberal  Christianity."  Being,  how- 
ever, a  Trinitarian  Christian,  I  am  able  to  discuss 
the  theme  *'A  Trinitarian's  Appreciation  of  the  Uni- 
tarian." 

As  stated  in  previous  discussions,  I  consider  that 
an  appreciation  of  the  good  in  others  and  in  others' 
religious  beliefs  is  all  conducive  to  ultimate  unity 
and  accord.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  criticize  or  find 
fault  with  Unitarianism,  but  to  help  on  the  cause 
of  religious  goodwill  by  expressions  of  appreciation, 
and  if  Unitarians  can  find  it  possible  to  express  ap- 
preciation of  the  orthodox,  the  evangelical,  the  Trini- 
tarian Christian,  the  day  of  Christian  fellowship 
and  religious  unity  will  be  hastened  in  its  coming. 


The  first  characteristic  of  Unitarians  as  a 
body  is  their  independence  in  religious  thinking. 
Whilst  this  is  not  the  chief  feature  of  Unitarianism, 
it  is  so  important  that  it  needs  to  be  borne  in  mind 
in  any  review  which  is  made  of  Unitarianism  or  of 
Unitarians. 


136      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

"As  one  star  differeth  from  another  star  in  glory," 
so  does  one  Unitarian  differ  from  another  Unitarian. 
Some  religious  thinkers  in  the  Unitarian  body  are 
nearer  in  their  spiritual  aspiration  and  their  inter- 
pretation of  Christian  truths  to  orthodox  thinkers 
than  they  are  to  fellow  Unitarians,  and  yet  because 
of  their  independence  in  thinking  and  their  unwill- 
ingness to  conform  to  exacting  formularies,  they 
are  excluded  from  orthodox  denominations  and  find 
a  home  among  other  independent  thinkers  in  the 
Unitarian  body,  or,  perhaps,  remain  aloof  from 
churches  of  all  names  and  kinds.  The  earlier  Uni- 
tarians in  the  United  States  believed  in  the  super- 
natural and  in  miracles,  and  accepted  the  usual  view 
of  the  inspiration  of  Scrpture,  but  they  also  believed 
strongly  in  the  right  of  private  judgement  and  were 
too  independent  to  remain  even  with  Independents 
or  Congregationalists. 

Hence  Unitarians  have  always  fought  shy  of 
creeds  as  so  many  fetters  to  the  free  action  of  one's 
own  conscience.  Being  found  at  the  outset  almost 
exclusively  amongst  the  Congregationalists  or,  as 
called  in  England,  Independents,  they  accepted  the 
principle  of  independence  to  such  a  degree  that  they 
would  not  circumscribe  the  thoughts  and  beliefs  of 
others,  or  allow  themselves  to  be  circumscribed,  by 
any  ecclesiastical  domination  or  by  any  public  con- 
fession of  faith.  The  idea  was  expressed  forcibly 
by  Dr.  William  E.  Channing,  who  wrote  of  Unita- 
rianism  in  his  day  that  it  is  ''characterized  by  noth- 
ing more  than  by  the  spirit  of  freedom  and  individu- 
ality. It  has  no  established  creed  or  symbol.  Its 
friends  think  each  for  himself,  and  differ  much  from 


THE   UNITARIAN.  137 

each  other."  And  again  he  wrote,  "1  am  more  de- 
tached from  a  denomination,  and  strive  to  feel  more 
my  connexion  with  the  Universal  Church,  with  all 
good  and  holy  men.  I  am  little  of  a  Unitarian,  and 
stand  aloof  from  all  but  those  who  strive  and  pray 
for  clearer  light,  who  look  for  a  purer  and  more 
effectual  manifestation  of  Christian  truth." 

Thus  in  the  very  midst  of  independence  there  ap- 
pears the  natural  longing,  not  for  sects,  but  for  the 
one  "Holy  Catholic  Church,"  the  Church  Universal, 
with  Christ  alone  recognized  as  its  head,  with  Christ 
alone  recognized  as  each  one's  Master.  Until  the 
Christian  Church  can  be  Catholic  enough,  compre- 
hensive enough,  to  include  all  who  promise  to  follow 
Christ,  there  must  be  divisions  and  sects.  What 
needs  to  be  noted  is  that  the  independence  of  think- 
ing, the  individuality  of  responsibility,  which  char- 
acterizes Unitarians,  is  always  strongly  set  against 
sectarianism,  but  seldom  against  the  idea  of  the  one 
Universal  Church  of  Christ.  The  spirit  of  Uni- 
tarian independence  is  not  an  extreme  from  the 
Church  ideal  of  Roman  Catholics;  rather  they  ap- 
proach each  other.  Unitarianism  stands  for  inde- 
pendence on  the  one  side  and  unity — Catholicity — 
on  the  other.  The  former  was  the  germ  thought  of 
the  Protestant  Reformation  on  the  continent  of  Eu- 
rope; the  latter  has  always  characterized  the  Church 
of  Rome. 

Radicals  in  the  Unitarian  body  sought  to  combine 
these  extremes  in  one  or  another  way.  On  the  one 
side  they  magnified  freedom  of  religious  thought, 
whilst  on  the  other  they  went  beyond  mere  fellow- 
ship with  the  one  Christian  Church,  and  sought  for 


138      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

unity  in  the  religious  sentiment  of  all  Faiths  and  all 
ages.  They  placed  emphasis  on  Religion  rather  than 
on  Christianity  or  Unitarianism.  Their  spirit  of 
fellowship,  never  discarding  independence  of  think- 
ing, was  of  the  widest  kind;  it  was  as  wide  as  hu- 
manity. 

Speaking  of  the  controversy  concerning  these 
ideas  amongst  American  Unitarians,  Mr.  Geo.  W. 
Cooke  says :  "What  was  sought  for  was  a  method 
of  reconciling  fellowship  with  individuality  of  opin- 
ion, of  establishing  a  Church  in  which  freedom  of 
faith  for  the  individual  shall  have  full  recognition." 

It  was  not  until  1894  that  the  General  Conference 
of  Unitarian  Churches  agreed  to  the  following  state- 
ment as  to  their  religious  belief : 

'These  Churches  accept  the  Religion  of  Jesus, 
holding,  in  accordance  with  His  teaching,  that  prac- 
tical religion  is  summed  up  in  love  to  God  and  love 
to  man.  .  .  .  We  cordially  invite  to  our  working 
fellowship  any  who,  while  differing  from  us  in  be- 
lief, are  in  general  sympathy  with  our  spirit  and  our 
practical  aims." 

The  Basis  of  Union  of  many  Unitarian  Churches 
simply  reads :  ''In  the  love  of  truth,  and  the  spirit 
of  Jesus  Christ,  we  unite  for  the  worship  of  God  and 
the  service  of  man." 

It  can  be  easily  seen  that  independence  in  reli- 
gious thinking,  that  strong  individuality  of  charac- 
ter, that  freedom  of  the  human  conscience,  all  con- 
ditioned by  the  widest  spirit  of  fellowship,  is  a  great 
force  in  the  redemption  of  the  world  and  in  the  de- 
velopment of  a  high  type  of  civilization.  It  means 
vigour  of  mind  and  of  character.     It  denotes  un- 


THE   UNITARIAN.  139 

daunted  courage.  It  forms  the  stuff  of  which  re- 
formers and  martyrs  are  made.  It  is  the  essence  of 
Protestantism,  and  it  does  not,  at  the  same  time, 
overthrow  Catholicity.  By  it  inspiration  is  given  to 
a  masterful  leadership  in  the  sphere  of  morals.  That 
which  strengthened  the  arm  of  Puritanism  has  been 
the  strength  of  Unitarianism.  Moreover,  as  an  in- 
dispensable quality,  it  has  entered  into  individual 
lives  in  all  branches  of  the  Christian  Church,  and 
even  in  other  religious  Faiths.  It  is  a  quality  which 
the  Trinitarian  and  any  other  type  of  religious 
thinker  will  find  it  hard  not  to  appreciate,  to  com- 
mend and  to  extol. 


II. 


With  this  dominating  characteristic  of  inde- 
pendence, the  Unitarian  also  deserves  appreciation 
for  the  emphasis  he  places  on  the  Unity  of  God. 
Unitarianism  is  thus  not  the  product  of  negative 
and  destructive  criticism,  but  of  belief  that  is  posi- 
tive and  of  thinking  that  is  constructive.  Its  essence 
is  the  central  thought  of  all  religions.  It  lays  a 
foundation  for  all  religious  doctrine  in  pure  Theism. 
It  directs  humanity  to  uprightness  of  character  by 
directing  him  to  a  clear,  unequivocal  worship  of  the 
one  living  and  true  God,  and  of  implicit  trust  in  His 
love  and  allegiance  to  His  commands.  Like  Juda- 
ism, like  Islam,  like  the  purest  form  of  all  Religions, 
whether  Confucian,  Buddhist,  Taoist,  Brahman, 
Zoroastrian  or  any  other,  it  teaches  monotheism 
with  no  reservation,  modification  or  limitation.  The 
greatest  of  all  religious  beliefs,  as  affirmed  by  the 


140      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

experience  of  the  ages,  is  made,  it  might  almost  be 
said,  the  one  belief  of  the  Unitarian. 

Unitarianism,  as  in  the  right  of  private  judge- 
ment, is  the  most  Protestant  of  all  Protestant  bodies, 
for  it  originated  as  a  protest  against  tritheism  or  the 
tri-personality  of  God — a  false  interpretation  of 
Christianity.  Like  Muhammad,  the  Unitarians 
turned  back  to  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  God's 
unity.  In  their  reaction  from  false  conceptions  of 
the  Godhead,  they  may  at  times  have  seemed  also  to 
condemn  those  who  accepted  the  Trinity,  as  well  as 
those  who  taught  Tri-theism.  As  a  result  of  the 
same  reaction,  it  has  frequently  come  to  pass  that 
not  only  those  who  in  their  thinking  of  three  Gods 
criticize  and  denounce  Unitarianism,  but  even  those 
who  worship  one  God  but  accept  a  Trinitarian  con- 
ception of  God,  have  also,  in  their  thoughtlessness, 
condemned  where  they  should  have  commended. 

This  protest  against  tri-personality  in  God,  and 
this  emphasis  placed  on  the  unity  of  the  personality 
of  God,  has  helped  to  preserve  the  real  orthodoxy, 
the  truthfulness  of  the  Trinitarian  conception  of 
God.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  tendency  of  man- 
kind has  been  to  forget  God,  that  is,  to  forget  Him 
as  One,  and  to  stray  away  into  erroneous  concep- 
tions which  are  polytheistic.  There  is  also  no  doubt 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  has  too  often  been 
so  explained  as  to  imply  the  presence  in  the  world  of 
three  Beings,  each  called  God,  with  three  distinct 
personalities,  and  three  wills,  and  that  worship 
ascends  in  one's  thought  not  to  God,  but  to  three 
Gods.  Hence  the  value  of  Unitarianism,  which  the 
correct  Trinitarian  thinker  can  appreciate,  is  its 


THE   UNITARIAN.  I4l 

appeal  to  man  to  remain  true  to  God,  and  to  have 
no  other  gods  before  him.  Joseph  Cook  of  Boston, 
to  escape  condemnation  from  Unitarians,  gave  an 
interpretation  of  the  Trinity,  which  is  free  from 
these  erroneous  conceptions.    I  quote  his  words : 

'There  are  not  in  God  three  wills,  three  sets  of 
affections,  three  consciences,  three  instincts.  .  .  . 
I  will  resist  the  proposition  that  there  are  in  God, 
three  persons  in  a  strict,  colloquial,  literal,  modern 
sense.  .  .  .  The  word  person  implies  a  species.  If 
you  say  there  are  three  persons  in  God,  and  mean  by 
that  word  just  what  you  mean  by  it  on  the  street  and 
in  the  parlour,  you  assume  that  these  persons  are 
individuals  in  a  species ;  and  my  reply  is  that  there 
is  no  species  of  Gods  outside  of  polytheism.  .  .  . 
Have  there  not  been  teachers  who  have  held  that 
there  are  three  wills  in  God  ?  Yes.  Have  there  not 
been  in  New  England  intelligent  Christians  who 
have  worshipped  three  beings  in  imagination,  al- 
though in  their  thoughts  they  have  asserted  that 
God  is  one?  I  fear  there  have  been,  and  that  there 
are  yet.  .  .  .  The  luminousness,  the  colour  and  the 
heat  (of  the  sun),  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit, 
three  subsistences  in  one  substance  all  enswathe  us 
here  and  now." 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  interpretation  given  to  the 
doctrine  of  God  by  Unitarians  has  entered  into  the 
thought  and  phraseology  of  Christians  in  orthodox 
Churches.  The  language  of  William  E.  Channing 
and  James  Freeman  Clarke  is  not  much  different 
from  that  of  many  evangelical  preachers.  The  ex- 
planation of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  given  by 
Joseph  Cook  can  hardly  give  offence  to  a  Unitarian, 


1-42      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

and  yet  this  distinguished  lecturer  was  regarded  as 
a  strong  defender  of  orthodoxy.  Without  some  pro- 
test from  Unitarians,  there  would  be  a  danger  that 
the  Trinitarian  conception  of  God  would  break  the 
bonds  of  orthodoxy  and  become  a  dangerous  heresy. 
Unitarianism  has,  on  the  one  side,  been  a  stimulus 
to  the  truth  that  God  is  One,  and  on  the  other  it  has 
prevented  the  false  thinking  that  there  are  three 
personalities  each  called  God.  The  Trinitarian  is 
thus  warned  that  as  the  essential  and  indispensable 
truth  is  that  God  is  One,  so  there  must  be  no  con- 
ception of  the  mind  and  no  form  of  phraseology  that 
would  leave  the  impression  that  there  are  three  Gods. 

The  illustration  used  by  Joseph  Cook  helps  to 
explain  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  without  subvert- 
ing the  doctrine  of  God's  Oneness.  As  the  one  sun 
has  white  light,  the  colours  of  the  rainbow,  and  also 
heat,  so  the  one  God  has  three  ways  to  show  Himself 
to  the  world. 

The  illustration  found  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Gospel  of  John  has  supported  the  Trinitarian  in  his 
belief,  and  also  restrained  him  from  the  error  which 
Unitarians  specially  condemn.  God  is  one,  but  He 
manifests  through  the  Word.  One's  words  make 
known  the  meaning  of  the  heart.  To  say  that  words 
proceed  from  the  mouth  of  a  person  or  to  say  that 
that  they  proceed  from  a  person,  is  all  the  same. 
To  hear  one  is  to  hear  his  words.  Thus  the  Word 
of  God — His  eternal  manifestation — is  not  separate 
from  God;  the  Word  is  God.  So,  too,  a  Breath,  a 
Spirit,  is  spoken  of  t'^s  proceeding  from  God.  A  per- 
son without  the  breath  of  life  ceases  to  be ;  his  spirit 
has  left.    So,  for  God  to  exist  means  that  His  breath, 


THE   UNITARIAN.  143 

His  spirit,  remains.  If  we  say  that  the  breath  of 
God  is  breathed  upon  mankind,  we  mean  only  that 
God  is  at  work  amongst  men  and  influences  all  men. 
God  as  the  great  First  Cause,  God  as  the  Word,  God 
as  the  Spirit,  is  one  God,  but  appearing  in  three  dif- 
ferent ways  to  the  thought  of  man. 

The  baptisimal  form,  which  specifies  the  Son, 
bears  more  upon  the  nature  of  Jesus  Christ,  than 
upon  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  this  is  to  be 
considered  under  a  later  head. 

Any  one  who  examines  the  Scriptures  will  ac- 
knowledge that  the  one  vital  truth,  summed  up  in 
the  First  Commandment  given  to  Moses  and  through 
him  to  the  world,  and  permeating  all  the  Books  of 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  is  that  for  which  Unita- 
rianism  stands,  namely,  God  is  one.  The  passages 
which  point  to  God  as  Triune  are  few,  and  this  fact 
should  stand  as  evidence  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  is  not  as  vital  as  that  of  God's  Unity.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  a  great  mystery,  is  philo- 
sophical in  character,  and  taxes  the  faculties  of  the 
mind.  Being  such,  it  can  not  have  the  same  place  in 
the  creed  of  the  Christian  or  in  his  life,  as  that 
which  is  fundamental  to  religion,  and  which  the 
Unitarian  magnifies,  namely,  ''Hear,  0  Israel,  the 
Lord  our  God  is  one  God."  If  the  Unitarian  sin- 
cerely believes  in  God,  worships  God,  and  seeks  to 
obey  God,  and  if  the  only  fault  to  find  with  him  is 
that  he  does  not  think  of  God  in  the  same  way  as 
others  do,  there  is  good  reason  why  he  and  the  Trini- 
tarian can  have  fellowship  with  each  other  as  they 
have  with  God,  and  that  each  should  appreciate  the 


144       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

other,    ceasing    to    be    antagonists    and    becoming 
friends  and  allies  in  the  contest  with  evil. 


III. 

A  third  feature  of  the  Unitarian's  belief 
deserving  the  hearty  appreciation  of  all  other  Chris- 
tians, is  the  great  teaching  concerning  the  imma- 
nence of  God  in  the  universe  and  particularly  in 
man.  And  here,  too,  the  Unitarians  and  many  of 
the  orthodox  thinkers  approximate  to  each  other. 
We  have  already  seen  how  the  principle  of  independ- 
ence in  religious  thinking  approximated  to  the  spirit 
of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  while  the  desire  for 
followship  with  the  one  Church  Universal,  as  op- 
posed to  sectarianism,  approximates  to  a  cardinal 
teaching  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  second  great 
principle,  of  belief  in  one  God,  approximates  not 
only  to  the  monotheistic  Faiths,  but  to  the  very  or- 
thodox Calvinists,  who  dwell  much  on  the  sov- 
ereignty of  God.  God  as  sovereign,  as  a  Being  Su- 
preme over  all,  was  the  distinctive  Hebrew  idea, 
which  passed  over  into  Christianity  except  that  it 
was  modified  to  the  extent  of  changing  sovereign  or 
Jehovah  into  Father.  Even  as  Father,  according  to 
this  Hebrew  phase  of  the  one  truth,  He  exercised 
from  heaven  his  fatherly  sway  over  men  on  the 
earth. 

Along  with  the  Hebrew  conception  of  God,  there 
entered  into  Christianity  the  Hellenistic  conception 
that  God  is  immanent  in  His  universe,  that  the  Fa- 
ther is  immanent  in  His  children.  So  the  Apostle 
Paul,  preaching  at  Athens,  used  the  familiar  phrase 


THE  UNITARIAN.  145 

that,  "God  is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us,  for  in 
Him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being/'  The 
Hebrews,  indeed,  were  not  totally  devoid  of  this  idea, 
but  the  idea  received  new  force  by  contact  with  the 
Greeks,  especially  the  idealism  of  Plato.  As  Pro- 
fessor D.  C.  Mcintosh  of  Yale  University  has  said, 
"The  God  of  practical  religion  is  transcendent;  the 
God  of  mystical  religion  is  immanent,  especially  in 
the  mystical  experience  itself.  Christianity,  coming 
out  of  Judaism,  and  going  forth  into  the  Hellenic 
world,  felt  called  upon,  and  also  able,  to  retain  the 
values  of  both  points  of  view,  and  to  reconcile  two 
seemingly  contradictory  theologies." 

This  happy  combination  of  early  Christianity 
characterizes  Unitarianism.  Like  all  monotheistic 
religions,  it  has  magnified  what  we  may  call  the 
status  of  God,  making  Him  supreme  over  all.  Like 
all,  whose  love  and  adoration  go  forth  spontaneously 
to  this  Supreme  Being,  the  All-God,  it  has  brought 
God  from  heaven  to  participate  in  the  affairs  of  this 
present  earthly  existence,  as  an  immanent,  as  well 
as  transcendent,  God. 

These  two  aspects  of  the  divine  nature  being 
rightly  presented,  commend  themselves  to  the  mind 
of  the  Jew,  the  Moslem,  and  the  Confucianist,  such 
as  speculations  on  the  Trinity  fail  to  accomplish. 
For  Taoists,  Buddhists  and  specially  Brahmans,  the 
immanence  of  God  is  a  magnetic  power,  such  as  the 
limitation  of  this  immanence  to  one  person  fails 
to  be. 

The  immanence  of  God,  as  taught  by  Unitarians, 
is  akin  to  the  doctrine  of  God's  Providence,  as  taught 


146      A  christian's  appreciation  op  other  faiths. 

by  the  rigidly  orthodox.  Here,  then,  the  Calvinist 
should  be  able  to  link  hands  with  the  Unitarian. 

Though  Unitarians  are  supposed  to  be  adherents 
of  Arius,  yet  in  this  particular  doctrine,  or  rather 
life-principle,  they  are  more  akin  to  the  ideas  of 
Athanasius.  Even  concerning  Jesus  Christ,  Uni- 
tarians find  more  in  Athanasius  than  in  Arius,  with 
which  they  can  agree.  ''Consciously  or  unconscious- 
ly/' says  A.  N.  Blatchford,  ''Athanasius  was  in  real- 
ity contending  for  the  Greek  conception  of  the  Deity, 
which  was  that  of  the  immanence  of  God  in  human 
nature ;  whilst  the  estimate  of  God  formed  by  Arius 
was  that  of  God  transcending  all  nature,  and  whose 
ineffable  substance  no  created  being  could  share,  an 
estimate  founded  upon  the  venerable  Hebrew  idea 
of  God  as  supreme,  apart  from  and  above  all." 

English  and  American  Unitarians  sprang  into 
being  almost  as  much  out  of  protest  to  an  excessive 
supernaturalism,  as  to  the  implication  that  the  Su- 
preme Being  was  tri-personal.  Defenders  of  the 
Faith,  like  Bishop  Butler  in  his  "Analogy,"  were 
equally  strong  with  Unitarians  of  a  later  day  in 
recognizing  the  omnipresence  of  God — a  truth  ap- 
parent enough  on  the  pages  of  Holy  Writ.  The 
transcendentalists  of  New  England,  Emerson, 
Hedge,  Alcott  and  Clarke,  who  were  all  affiliated 
with  the  Unitarian  movement,  and  similar  thinkers 
in  Old  England,  Coleridge  and  Wordsworth,  and 
later  Browning  and  Ruskin,  Unitarian  in  sentiment 
though  not  in  communion,  made  much  of  this  mys- 
tical teaching  of  God's  presence  in  all  things  and  in 
every  soul.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  way  that  Unitarians 
have  expressed  the  truth  that  has  made  it  a  striking 


THE   UNITARIAN.  147 

characteristic  of  Unitarian  teaching.  And  we  may 
add,  that  it  is  this  type  or  tone  of  thinking,  this  rec- 
ognition of  God's  presence,  that  has  saved  Unita- 
rianism  from  becoming  a  cold  Deism. 

It  was  Benjamin  Franklin  who  proposed  to  the 
Continental  Congress  that  each  day  of  their  sessions 
begin  with  prayer.  His  reason  was  expressed  in  the 
usual  phraseology  of  his  day :  'The  firm  conviction 
to  which  I  have  come  is  that  God  rules  in  the  affairs 
of  men,  and  if  a  sparrow  cannot  fall  to  the  ground 
without  His  notice,  an  empire  cannot  rise  without 
His  aid." 

The  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  one  of  the  spirit- 
ual and  mystical  teachers  of  Unitarianism,  a  man 
known  by  his  great  work  on  "The  Ten  Great  Reli- 
gions," after  referring  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trin- 
ity as  *'a  system  of  metaphysics,"  *'a  system  of  dia- 
lectics," a  ''logical  puzzle,"  speaks  in  glowing  lan- 
guage of  God's  immanence  in  the  world.  We  can  all 
agree  with  what  he  writes  concerning  God:  "We 
open  our  eyes  and  minds  and  hearts,  and  we  find 
Him  everywhere  in  nature,  in  life,  in  all  beauty,  in 
all  history.  Everywhere  that  divine  power  is  work- 
ing around  us.  We  see  it  in  all  the  beauty  which  is 
manifested  in  the  mountains,  clouds,  and  seas,  and 
brooks,  and  sunrise ;  in  all  the  history  of  the  human 
race;  in  childhood,  and  youth,  and  society;  in  busi- 
ness, in  pain,  and  in  joy;  in  all  the  riches  of  the 
world ;  because  in  all  of  them  there  is  some  manifes- 
tation of  the  divine  truth  and  love,  and  He  has  left 
no  race  and  no  family  of  mankind  orphans,  without 
some  knowledge  of  Himself."  The  spirit  of  this  be- 
lief is  the  spirit  of  the  prayer-hymn,  written  by  a 


148      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths 

Unitarian,  Mrs.  Sarah  Flower  Adams,  ''Nearer,  my 
God,  to  Thee." 

IV. 

From  this  conception  of  God's  immanence 
in  every  soul,  there  comes  the  collateral  conception 
of  man's  worth  and  dignity.  Unitarianism  revolted 
from  the  extreme  teaching  of  the  orthodox  that  man 
is  totally  depraved.  It  recognized  the  moral  nature 
of  man  as  a  gift  of  God,  and  in  so  doing  ennobled 
humanity. 

The  rigid  dogma  of  the  Dark  Ages  concerning 
man's  sinfulness — and  the  Dark  Ages  corroborated 
the  dogma — was  first  pierced  by  the  light  through 
the  great  movement  known  as  the  Renaissance, 
when  men  awoke  to  the  fact  that  God  is  ever  speak- 
ing in  the  human  reason  and  that  man,  as  said  the 
Psalmist,  is  made  "a  little  lower  than  the  angels." 

Even  after  the  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation, 
Protestant  theologians  followed  the  teaching  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  as  to  man's  apostasy,  and  inability 
to  do  the  right.  Arminian  theology,  and  then  Uni- 
tarianism, came  in  to  soften  the  hard  dogmas,  to 
inspire  men  with  hope,  and  to  serve  men  for  action 
by  a  sense  of  personal  responsibility  as  due  to  per- 
sonal ability. 

A  simple  illustration  of  the  way  this  conception 
gave  rise  to  Unitarianism  is  seen  by  the  way  it  en- 
tered into  the  mind  of  Theodore  Parker,  when  he 
was  a  little  child  of  only  four.  The  story  is  told  by 
Theodore  Parker  himself,  and  the  words  were  the 
last  he  ever  wrote  as  he  lay  dying  in  Italy.  These 
are  his  words : 


THE  UNITARIAN.  149 

"When  a  little  boy  in  petticoats  in  my  fourth  year, 
one  fine  day  in  spring,  my  father  led  me  by  the  hand 
to  a  distant  part  of  the  farm,  but  soon  sent  me  home 
alone.  On  the  way  I  had  to  pass  a  little  'pond-hole,' 
then  spreading  its  waters  wide.  A  rhodora  flower 
in  full  bloom  attracted  my  attention  and  drew  me 
to  the  spot.  I  saw  a  little  spotted  tortoise  sunning 
himself  in  the  shallow  water  at  the  root  of  the  flam- 
ing shrub.  I  lifted  the  stick  I  had  in  my  hand  to 
strike  it.  But  all  at  once  something  checked  my 
little  arm,  and  a  voice  within  me  said,  clear  and  loud, 
'It  is  wrong!*  I  held  my  uplifted  stick  in  wonder  at 
the  new  emotion — the  consciousness  of  an  involun- 
tary but  inward  check  upon  my  actions — till  the  tor- 
toise and  the  rhodora  both  vanished  from  my  sight. 
I  hastened  home  and  told  the  tale  to  my  mother,  and 
asked  what  it  was  that  told  me  it  was  wrong.  She 
wiped  a  tear  from  her  eye  with  her  apron,  and, 
taking  me  in  her  arms,  said,  'Some  men  call  it  Con- 
science, but  I  prefer  to  call  it  the  Voice  of  God  in 
the  soul  of  man.  If  you  listen  and  obey  it,  then  it 
will  speak  clearer  and  clearer,  and  always  guide  you 
right ;  but  if  you  turn  a  deaf  ear  or  disobey,  then  it 
will  fade  out  little  by  little,  and  leave  you  all  in  the 
dark  and  without  a  guide.  Your  life  depends  on 
your  heeding  this  little  voice.'  I  am  sure  no  event 
in  my  life  has  made  so  deep  and  lasting  an  impres- 
sion on  me." 

This  story  tells  a  simple  truth,  which,  devoid  of 
all  theological  disputations,  Christians,  and  those 
who  are  not  Christians,  will  hardly  care  to  deny. 
The  truth  lies  embedded  in  the  teachings  of  China's 
Sages,  and  for  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  Unita- 


150      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

rian  Christianity  should  be  the  form  naturally  ac- 
ceptable to  the  Chinese. 

The  Rev.  William  E.  Channing,  who  represented 
the  spiritual  type  in  Unitarianism,  once  said,  *'I  am 
surer  that  my  rational  nature  is  from  God,  than  that 
any  book  is  an  expression  of  His  will.  This  light  in 
my  own  breast  is  His  primary  revelation,  and  all 
subsequent  ones  must  accord  with  it,  and  are  in  fact 
intended  to  blend  with  it  and  brighten  it." 

This  conception  of  man's  nobility,  or  rather  of 
man  as  recipient  of  God's  revelation,  of  man,  in 
other  words,  with  a  conscience,  has  entered  into 
nearly  all  branches  of  modem  Church  life.  The 
Unitarian  teaching  in  this  respect  has  been  made  a 
part  of  the  teaching  of  Trinitarian  preachers,  if  not 
of  Trinitarian  theologians. 

The  Rev.  George  A.  Gordon  of  Old  South  Church 
of  Boston,  a  liberal  Congregationalist,  has  penned 
these  words :  ''It  has  become  obvious  to  competent 
judges  in  all  denominations  that  Unitarianism  in 
the  hands  of  Channing  and  his  successors  rediscov- 
ered the  Christian  doctrine  of  man."  And  again: 
"If  with  the  Trinitarian  we  say  God  is  Father,  with 
the  Unitarian  we  must  say  man  is  the  inalienable 
child  of  God;  if  with  the  Trinitarian  we  claim  that 
there  is  a  special,  ideal  incarnation  of  God  in  Jesus 
Christ  answering  to  his  vocation  in  the  history  of 
religion  in  the  earth,  we  must  contend  with  the  Uni- 
tarian that  there  is  a  universal  incarnation  in  man- 
kind in  virtue  of  which  man  is  man  with  the  impulse 
of  the  Eternal  in  his  heart.  In  failing  to  see  in  the 
positive  message  of  Unitarianism  the  complement  to 
what  was  highest  in  their  own  faith  and  the  correc- 


THE   UNITARIAN.  151 

tion  of  its  malady  of  errors  about  man,  the  masters 
of  the  New  England  theology  made  a  supreme  mis- 
take." 


As  the  living  truth  of  God's  immanence  leads 
to  the  exhilarating  truth  of  man's  nobility  of  nature, 
so  the  truth  of  man's  nobility  leads  to  the  truth  of 
the  supreme  nobility  of  the  personality  of  Jesus 
Christ.  While  the  way  Unitarians  have  represented 
Jesus  has  brought  upon  their  heads  severe  censure, 
we  venture  to  point  out  in  what  way  the  Unitarian 
view  of  Jesus  can  fairly  deserve  the  Trinitarian's 
appreciation,  in  fact,  how  near  some  Unitarians  are 
to  Trinitarians  in  the  essential  quality  of  this  cen- 
tral truth  of  Christianity. 

Some  Unitarians  are  Arians,  believing  that  Jesus 
was  only  a  man;  others,  when  we  come  to  analyze 
their  faith  and  thinking,  are  more  like  Athanasius, 
who  believed  not  only  in  a  Triune  God,  but  that 
Jesus  was  the  God-man,  the  incarnation  of  the  Sec- 
ond Person  of  the  Godhead.  In  making  this  last 
statement,  we  realize  that  the  likeness  of  the  Uni- 
tarian to  Athanasius  is  unbelievable ;  it  is  only  when 
we  come  to  the  inner  thought  of  the  doctrine  about 
the  person  of  Jesus,  that  we  are  able  to  detect  a 
likeness. 

The  distinctive  Arian  type  of  mind  was  the  He- 
brew type,  impressed  not  only  by  the  Oneness  of 
God,  but  the  supremacy  of  God.  Of  the  Hebrew 
type.  Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke  has  correctly  said,  "that 
the  idea  of  incarnation  was  foreign  to  the  Hebrew 
mind.    There  was  no  race  in  the  world  that  held  so 


152      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

strongly  to  the  thought  that  God  was  solitary,  un- 
searchable, and  incommunicable."  Beyond  the  two 
ideas  that  God  is  one  and  that  Jesus  was  a  man, 
Unitarians  have  little  in  common  with  the  early 
Arians.  As  already  shown,  Unitarianism  has  made 
much  of  the  mystical  idea  of  God's  immanence,  an 
inherent  idea  in  Hellenic  philosophy,  and  with  this 
idea  there  came  the  idea  of  universal  incarnation. 
As  a  result,  the  idea  of  special  incarnation  in  Jesus 
Christ,  the  idea  which  took  possession  of  Athanasius 
as  opposed  to  the  ideas  of  Arius,  has  been  accepted 
by  Unitarians  of  the  more  mystical  and  spiritual 
type. 

Here,  then,  we  have  three  ideas  in  Unitarianism 
which  the  orthodox  Christian  is  bound  to  accept. 
One  idea  is  the  real  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
teaching  is  a  part  of  orthodoxy,  as  of  Unitarianism. 
Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke,  a  Presbyterian,  in  his  book 
"The  Gospel  for  an  Age  of  Doubt,"  explains  the  ar- 
gument of  the  book  in  the  following  language :  "It 
accepts  without  reserve  or  qualification  the  perfect 
humanity  of  Christ.  The  life  which  Christ  lived  on 
earth  was  a  veritable  human  life.  The  person  who 
lived  it  was  the  Son  of  God.  The  mind  that  was  in 
Christ  was  a  single  mind,  and  His  will  was  the  ex- 
pression of  an  undivided  personality.  The  Godhead 
that  was  in  Him  was  such  as  manhood  is  capable  of 
receiving."  Another  has  said :  "Unitarianism  in 
declaring  the  humanity  of  Jesus  does  not  bring  the 
Christ  down  but  lifts  humanity  up." 

The  Rev.  Clay  MacCauley,  an  ex-Presbyterian 
minister,  now  head  of  the  Unitarian  Mission  in 
Japan,  in  his  thoughtful  book  on  "The  Faith  of  the 


THE   UNITARIAN.  153 

Incarnation/'  says  very  correctly :  "In  all  Orthodox 
creeds  Jesus  Christ  has  been  presented  as,  in  a  true 
sense  of  the  word,  human.  It  is  one  of  the  memor- 
able distinctions  of  the  Roman  Catholic  and  the 
Protestant  orthodox  theologies,  that  they  have  in- 
variably taught  the  proper  and  complete  humanity 
of  Jesus." 

Moreover  the  humanity  of  Jesus,  which  is  taught, 
is  complete.  Jesus  did  the  will  of  his  father  to  such 
a  perfect  degree  that  He  had  the  right  to  be  called 
the  Son  of  Man,  and  He  showed  forth  the  spirit  of 
God  to  such  a  perfect  degree  that  He  had  the  right 
to  be  called  the  Son  of  God.  The  great  Unitarian 
preacher.  Dr.  Henry  W.  Bellows,  speaking  in  1866 
in  Cooper  Institute,  New  York,  a  building  erected 
by  the  Unitarian  philanthropist,  Peter  Cooper,  used 
these  words :  "Unitarians  of  the  school  to  which  I 
belong  accept  Jesus  Christ  with  all  their  hearts  as 
the  Sent  of  God,  the  Divinely  inspired  Son  of  the 
Father,  who  by  His  miraculously  proven  office  and 
His  sinless  life  and  character  was  fitted  to  be  and 
was  made  revealer  of  the  universal  and  permanent 
religion  of  the  human  race." 

The  second  idea  in  the  Unitarian  teaching  con- 
cerning Jesus  Christ  is  that,  having  His  life  full  of 
God,  He  is  also  recognized  as  a  divine  man.  They 
hence  speak  of  the  divinity  of  Jesus  rather  than  of 
his  Deity.  And  here  we  quote  from  the  Rev.  James 
Freeman  Clarke,  to  see  the  truth  that  lies  behind 
this  expression:  "In  rejecting  the  technical  and 
theological  doctrine  of  the  Deity  of  Christ,  we  do 
not  believe  Christ  less  divine,  but  more.  To  say 
that  Christ  is  God,  unless  we  know  what  we  mean 


154      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

by  it  when  we  say  it,  does  not  show  God  in  Christ; 
does  not  make  him  a  revelation  of  God.  It  is  to  see 
something  divine  in  Christ  which  brings  us  to  God ; 
and  that  is  what  he  came  for — to  bring  us  to  God." 

A  third  idea  is  taught  by  some  Unitarians  of  the 
more  spiritual  type  and  that  is  that  Jesus  Christ  was 
the  incarnation  of  God.  They  do  not  say,  the  incar- 
nation of  the  Son  of  God,  and  they  do  not  limit  the 
incarnation  of  God,  any  more  than  His  immanence, 
to  the  one  man,  Christ  Jesus.  This  idea  of  "univer- 
sal incarnation  in  mankind"  is  just  that  teaching  in 
Unitarianism  which  the  Rev.  George  Gordon  has  ex- 
pressed as  essential  to  orthodoxy.  So  the  Rev.  Clay 
MacCauley  interprets  the  idea:  "Our  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Christology  now  finding  place  in  the  faith 
of  the  followers  of  the  Christ,  is  that  in  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  there  was  'God  manifest  in  the  flesh ;'  but 
that  God  was  incarnate  in  Jesus  in  no  way  essen- 
tially different  from  that  of  His  incarnation  in  all 
human  souls.  Whatever  difference  there  was  be- 
tween Jesus  and  other  men  was  in  the  degree  of  the 
Divine  Communion  and  manifestation,  not  in  its 
kind." 

This  conception  of  "God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  of 
"God  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself," 
is  in  the  name  which  he  received,  "Immanuel — God 
with  us."  Phraseology  like  this,  and  ideas  like  this, 
are  current  in  the  pulpits  of  orthodox  preachers, 
such  as  the  distinguished  Americans,  Phillips 
Brooks,  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  Lyman  Abbott, 
Henry  Van  Dyke,  and  George  A.  Gordon.  There  is 
no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  this  form  of  presenting 
Christianity,  rather  than  the  usual  form,  is  the  form 


THE   UNITARIAN.  155 

which  Moslems  and  those  who  adhere  to  other 
Faiths,  can  accept  with  most  of  value  to  their  per- 
sonal spiritual  life. 

The  ideas  of  Unitarians  concerning  the  person  of 
Christ — ideas,  be  it  noted,  which  are  not  all  of  the 
same  mould — have  greatly  affected  Christians  who 
retain  connexion  with  Churches  not  Unitarian.  This 
has  been  specially  so  since  the  days  of  heated  con- 
troversy passed  away.  In  controversy  points  of  an- 
tagonism receive  the  emphasis.  After  controversy, 
as  after  war,  there  comes  an  agreement  and  recon- 
ciliation. 

The  doctrine  of  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a 
complement  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity ;  any  con- 
sideration of  the  one  inevitably  leads  to  a  considera- 
tion of  the  other.  It  is  over  these  two  complement 
tary  doctrines  that  Unitarianism  has  been  put  to 
the  test.  The  re-action  of  Unitarian  thought  on 
Trinitarians  is  seen  as  much  in  the  views  held  con- 
cerning Jesus  Christ,  as  those  concerning  the  Trin- 
ity. 

The  influence  of  Unitarians  has  affected  two  types 
of  mind  in  orthodox  Churches.  Those  who  approach 
Christianity  intellectually  are  still  fascinated  by 
thoughts — or  speculations,  if  you  prefer  to  call  them 
— about  the  Trinity.  They,  therefore,  approach  the 
person  of  Jesus  from  the  God-ward  side.  In  the 
change  produced  in  their  minds  by  the  silent  influ- 
ence of  Unitarianism,  they  give  up  the  old  phrase  of 
God  sending  His  Son,  and  adopt,  instead,  the  phrase 
of  God  manifesting  Himself  in  Jesus  Christ.  They 
also  make  use  of  the  Logos  idea,  of  the  pre-existent 
Christ,  as  pointing  to  the  eternal  manifestation  or 


156      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

expression  of  the  invisible,  ineffable,  incomprehensi- 
ble God ;  and  then  accept,  with  the  Gospel  of  John, 
that  in  the  fulness  of  time,  this  Logos  or  the  Word, 
this  manifestation  of  God,  was  centered  in  the  per- 
son of  Jesus  Christ  ''the  glory  as  of  the  only  begot- 
ten of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth."  Thus 
the  Deity  dwelt  in  Jesus,  who  of  necessity  was  di- 
vine as  well  as  human.  Jesus  was  the  incarnation  of 
God,  this  is  the  thought,  rather  than  the  disputa- 
tious assertion  that  Jesus  was  the  incarnation  of  the 
Son  of  God.  They  agree  that  Jesus  by  his  perfect 
devotion  to  God's  will  was,  indeed,  the  Son  of  God, 
but  they  are  not  zealous  for  maintaining  that  in  the 
Trinity  from  all  eternity  there  was  a  Father  and  a 
Son,  though  they  accept  the  expression  of  God  the 
Father  and  of  the  Logos  or  the  Word.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Henry  C.  Mabie,  in  his  different  works,  has  given 
clear  expression  to  this  truth.  In  one  place  he  says : 
''The  Logos  becoming  historic  in  Christ  is  pre-emi- 
nently the  vocalized  reason  of  Deity  to  us — one  says 
'the  intelligible  expression  of  the  Deity.'  "  And 
again:  "Grace  then  is  monotheistic;  it  is  to  be  con- 
strued from  the  view  point  of  one  Deity  rather  than 
from  any  apparently  tri-theistic  basis." 

The  larger  proportion  of  Christian  believers  in 
these  days  take  but  little  interest  in  speculation, 
even  when  it  is  called  religious.  Others  approach  it 
from  the  practical  side.  In  their  practical  view- 
point they  approach  the  person  of  Jesus  from  the 
man-ward  side.  God  as  such  is  viewed  as  the  Father 
and  as  one.  Jesus  as  born  an  historical  character, 
and  by  his  life  and  death  wrought  salvation  to  the 
world,  became  the  highest  type  of  man,  and  by  the 


THE  UNITARIAN.  157 

complete  possession  which  God's  Spirit  had  upon 
him,  he  became  the  Son  of  God.  After  his  death, 
God's  Spirit  carried  on  his  work  in  the  hearts  of 
men.  To  such  minds,  the  Trinity  is  an  historical 
series :  first,  God  as  Father  of  All ;  then  Jesus  Christ 
the  Son  of  God;  and  finally  the  Holy  Spirit.  This 
simple  historical  enunciation  of  Christian  truth  con- 
cerning Trinity  and  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  ap- 
pears in  the  Apostles'  Creed  rather  than  in  the 
Nicene  and  Athanasian  Creeds,  and  this  simple 
formulary  is  what  Christians  of  today  are  most  in- 
clined to  accept. 

The  intellectual  and  the  practical  types  of  Chris- 
tians have  both  been  afl^ected  by  Unitarianism,  un- 
der its  influence  they  have  been  saved  from  many 
mistaken  ideas  and  statements  of  the  past,  and  have 
grasped  the  real  significance  of  the  Christian  Gos- 
pel, which  men  in  all  lands  and  under  all  instructors 
can  accept  without  dispute  as  the  universal  message 
of  God. 

VI. 

Another  teaching  of  Unitarianism  is  that  of 
universal  brotherhood.  This  is,  indeed,  no  new  doc- 
trine, for  it  found  expression  in  Jesus  Christ  and 
the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentile  world,  the  Apostle 
Paul.  Neither  is  it  today  a  teaching  which  is  con- 
fined to  Unitarians,  for  Christians  of  all  denomina- 
tions have  this  expression  much  upon  their  lips.  It 
is  a  popular  phrase.  Still  it  must  be  acknowledged 
that  the  rigidly  orthodox  have  taught  that  there  was 
only  a  brotherhood  of  those  who  believed  in  Jesus 
Christ,  and,  in  many  cases,  of  those  alone  who  be- 


158      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

longed  to  their  particular  Church.  The  brotherhood 
was  of  the  elect,  or  those  whom  one's  Church  could 
guarantee. 

It  must  also  be  acknowledged  that  this  teaching  of 
the  brotherhood  of  man  is  characteristic  of  modern 
Unitarian  thinkers.  Starting  with  a  belief  in  the 
immanence  of  God,  they  have  advanced  to  the  con- 
fession of  man's  nobility  of  nature  and  of  Jesus 
Christ's  supreme  nobility  in  spiritual  qualities  and 
divine  likeness.  The  next  step,  that  of  human  broth- 
erhood, is  the  natural  process  of  a  logical  mind. 

The  following  is  the  simple  statement  agreed  to 
by  the  Unitarian  General  Conference  of  1913 :  "The 
Fatherhood  of  God;  the  Brotherhood  of  Man;  the 
Leadership  of  Jesus;  Salvation  by  Character;  the 
Progress  of  Mankind;  Onward  and  Upward  for- 
ever.'^ 

Unitarians  have  thus  been  called  Humanitarians, 
not  so  much  because  they  have  believed  in  the  hu- 
manity of  Jesus,  as  because  they  have  believed  that 
all  men  are  endowed  of  God  with  humanitarian  in- 
stincts, and  that  no  higher  duty  rests  on  any  man 
than  that  of  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  his  fellow 
men. 

In  the  language  of  the  great  Teacher  our  common 
duty  is  that  of  love  to  God  and  love  to  man.  The 
teaching  of  human  brotherhood  is  that  in  this  love 
to  all  men  there  must  dwell  respect.  Respect  is 
natural,  if  we  accept  the  inherent  qualities  of  no- 
bility and  goodness  belonging  to  all  humanity. 

President  Abraham  Lincoln  was  nearer  to  Uni- 
tarians in  his  thought  than  to  orthodox  Churches. 
This  was  what  he  once  said  concerning  religion: 


THE   UNITARIAN.  159 

"I  have  never  united  myself  to  any  church,  because 
I  have  found  difficulty  in  giving  my  assent  without 
mental  reservation,  to  the  long  complicated  state- 
ments of  Christian  doctrine  which  characterize  their 
Articles  of  Belief  and  Confessions  of  Faith.  When 
any  Church  will  inscribe  over  its  altar,  as  its  sole 
qualification  for  membership,  the  Saviour's  con- 
densed statement  of  the  substance  of  both  Law  and 
Gospel,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind,  and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,'  that  church  will 
I  join  with  all  my  heart  and  all  my  soul."  He  evi- 
dently did  not  realize  that  this  short  statement  of 
faith  was  characteristic  of  the  Unitarian  Church. 

This  broad  humanitarianism  has  lain  at  the  basis 
of  internationalism.  It  moved  the  souls  of  Mazzini 
of  Italy,  Castelar  of  Spain  and  Kossuth  of  Hungary. 
The  last  one  once  used  these  words:  '"The  Unita- 
rian faith  is  the  only  faith  which  has  a  future;  the 
only  one  that  can  influence  the  intelligent  and  inter- 
est the  indifferent." 

Likewise  ex-President  Charles  W.  Eliot  in  an  ad- 
dress delivered  in  1913  said:  '1  have  been  giving 
you  reasons  for  the  belief  that  the  form  of  Chris- 
tianity most  likely  to  be  accepted  widely  in  the  gen- 
erations to  come  is  the  form  familiar  to  the  churches 
represented  in  this  conference  and  expressed  in  the 
formula  'The  fatherhood  of  God,  the  brotherhood  of 
man,  and  the  leadership  of  Jesus.'  I  am  thinking, 
of  course,  not  of  present  external  appearances  and 
immediate  issues  but  of  strong  under-currents  of 
thought  and  feeling, .  and   age-long  movements  in 


160      A  christian's  appreciation  op  other  faiths. 

which  countless  minds  and  wills,  and  many  religious 
bodies  will  take  part/' 

VII. 

Unitariansm  also  represents  a  spirit  of  sympathy, 
tolerance  and  respect  towards  other  religious  Faiths. 
This  is  an  off-shoot  of  the  belief  concerning  man's 
nobility  of  nature. 

''Revelation  is  not  sealed; 
Answering  unto  man's  endeavour. 
Truth  and  right  are  still  revealed. 
That  which  came  to  ancient  sages, 
Greek,  Barbarian,  Roman,  Jew, 
Written  in  the  heart's  deep  pages, 
Shines  today  forever  new." 

This  respect  for  other  Religions  has  led  to  the 
study  of  Comparative  Religions.  Impetus  was  given 
by  two  Unitarian  books,  James  Freeman  Clarke's 
'Ten  Great  Religions"  and  Samuel  Johnson's  "Ori- 
ental Religions." 

Prof.  Francis  G.  Peabody,  of  an  old  Unitarian 
family,  after  visiting  Japan,  has  said :  "The  great 
historic  faiths  of  Buddhism,  Confucianism,  and 
Shintoism,  which  have  moulded  national  life,  are 
still  operative  in  national  instincts  even  when  aban- 
doned as  personal  creeds.  The  first  task  of  the  mis- 
sionary under  such  circumstances  is  to  understand 
the  Oriental  mind  and  its  spiritual  aspirations,  and 
to  discern  therein  the  same  impulses  and  motives 
which  reappear,  in  purer  form  as  he  believes,  in  his 
Christian  faith.  'One  Gospel  in  many  dialects', — 
that  was  Martineau's  fine  phrase.' 


THE   UNITARIAN.  161 

Ex-President  Taft  in  a  public  address  said :  "Uni- 
tarians preach  the  gospel  of  sweet  reasonableness, 
of  love  of  God,  of  love  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  tolerance. 
It  has  always  seemed  a  wonder  to  me  why  all  the 
world  has  not  been  Unitarian,  and  I  think  all  the 
world  is  verging  in  that  direction." 

The  Unitarian  attitude  to  other  Religions  being 
one  of  tolerance,  is  not  much  of  a  proselytizing  or- 
ganization. Its  interest  in  missions  has  been  in  the 
form  of  doing  good  and  helping  on  all  good  causes, 
and  of  reviving  the  life  that  is  within  these  other 
Religions.  The  Rev.  Dr.  William  E.  Channing  once 
used  these  words  concerning  other  Christian  denom- 
inations: "Accustomed  as  we  are  to  see  genuine 
piety  in  all  classes  of  Christians,  in  Trinitarians,  in 
Unitarians,  in  Calvinists  and  Arminians,  in  Episco- 
palians, Methodists,  Baptists,  and  Congregational- 
ists,  and  delighting  in  this  character  whenever  it 
appears,  we  are  little  anxious  to  bring  men  over  to 
our  peculiar  opinions."  This  unwillingness  to  make 
converts  characterizes  social  settlement  work  in 
England  and  America.  It  is  this  which  has  made  the 
Unitarian  body  a  small  one,  in  comparison  with 
those  more  zealous  and  also  more  sectarian,  and  has 
kept  it  from  participating  in  missions,  so  long  as  the 
main  idea  has  been  to  convert  people  from  their 
traditional  faith  to  Christianity.  Unitarians  need 
to  understand  that,  leaving  out  the  proselytizing  mo- 
tive, they  have  a  duty  as  followers  of  Christ  to  live 
out  Christianity  and  make  the  Christian  message 
known  to  all  the  brotherhood  of  men. 

Unitarianism  in  the  old  Arian  form  was  as  much 
missionary  as  was  the  Athanasian.    The  first  trans- 


162      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

lation  of  the  Bible  into  a  vernacular  tongue  was 
made  by  Bishop  Ulfilas  for  the  Gothic  peoples,  and 
the  Gothic  type  of  Christianity  was  Arian.  It  was 
also  Nestorianism  which  in  the  seventh  century 
carried  the  Gospel  to  Persia  and  China.  It  was  a 
member  of  the  family  of  Socinus  who  carried  the 
Gospel  in  sixteenth  century  to  Poland  and  Transyl- 
vania, and  it  was  the  same  Socinian  scholars  who 
translated  the  Bible  into  the  Polish  tongue.  The 
Unitarian  Churches  of  Hungary  are  the  descendants 
of  these  earnest  Christians  of  350  years  ago. 

It  is  my  conviction  that  Unitarians  have  a  mission 
to  perform  in  presenting  Christianity,  its  faith  and 
practice,  in  a  new  light  to  the  non-Christian  peoples 
of  Asia.  When  the  President  of  the  American 
Board,  Dr.  Samuel  B.  Capen,  came  to  Shanghai  and 
spoke  at  our  Institute,  I  told  him  of  my  desire  to 
interest  Unitarians  in  work  for  the  uplift  of  China 
and  he  replied,  *'I  wish  you  sucess.  It  will  do  them 
good.  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  Unitarians  in  Boston 
have  held  their  first  Missionary  Conference."  We 
rejoice  that  Unitarians  are  tolerant  of  Moslems  and 
the  adherents  of  the  ancient  Religions,  but  this  tol- 
erance should  not  cool  their  ardour  for  being  of  serv- 
ice to  men  in  need,  whatever  their  name  or  race  or 
land. 

This  head  may  well  close  with  the  words  of  the 
spiritual  preacher  of  Scotland,  the  Rev.  George 
Matheson : 

"Gather  us  in:  we  worship  only  Thee; 


THE   UNITARIAN.  163 

In  varied  names  we  stretch  a  common  hand ; 
In  diverse  forms  a  common  soul  we  see; 
In  many  ways  we  seek  one  promised  land ; 
Gather  us  in. 

''Thine  is  the  mystic  life  great  India  craves ; 

Thine  is  the  Parsee's  sin-destroying  beam ; 
Thine  is  the  Buddhist's  rest  from  tossing  waves ; 

Thine  is  the  empire  of  vast  China's  dream : 
Gather  us  in. 

''Some  seek  a  Father  in  the  heavens  above; 

Some  ask  a  human  image  to  adore ; 
Some  crave  a  spirit  vast  as  life  and  love ; 

Within  Thy  mansions  we  have  all  and  more : 
Gather  us  in. 

VIII. 

Unitarianism  will  probably  receive  the  appre- 
ciation of  even  the  most  orthodox  for  what  it  has 
accomplished  in  the  social  welfare  of  mankind.  If 
the  lack  of  missionary  zeal  has  kept  back  Unitarians 
from  carrying  out  their  fundamental  belief  in 
human  brotherhood  to  the  extent  of  working  for  the 
good  of  non-Christian  nations,  they  in  their  own 
countries  have  helped  on  many  great  movements 
for  the  improvement  of  the  social  conditions  of  their 
fellow-countrymen.  American  Unitarians,  and  those 
of  Unitarian  thought  among  the  regular  Churches 
in  Europe,  have  taken  the  lead  in  social  service.  As 
the  Rev.  Thomas  R.  Slicer  has  said :  "In  the  great 
body  of  thinking  men  effectiveness  for  social  wel- 
fare rises  above  the  necessity  for  intelligent  agree- 
ment.   Associations  of  men  on  the  basis  of  practical 


104         A   christian's  APPRRniATION  OF  OTHER  PAITIIS. 

reform  are  now  maintained  without  regard  to  reli- 
gious opinion." 

The  first  peace  Society  in  the  United  States,  that 
of  Massachusetts,  was  organized  in  1815  through 
the  efforts  of  the  Rev.  Noah  Worcester  *'the  Apostle 
of  Peace",  in  the  study  of  Dr.  William  E.  Channing, 
who  became  one  of  the  first  Presidents.  The  World 
Peace  Foundation  was  the  donation  of  Edwin  Ginn, 
and  its  active  Secretary  is  Edwin  D.  Mead,  both  Uni- 
tarians. The  Carnegie  Endowment  for  Universal 
Peace  is  the  donation  of  a  radical  in  religion,  and 
several  of  the  Directors  are  liberal  in  their  theology, 
such  as  Joseph  A.  Choate,  Andrew  D.  White,  Robert 
S.  Woodward,  Thomas  Burke,  Oscar  S.  Straus,  and 
Henry  S.  Pritchett.  The  Peace  movement  has 
always  been  helped  by  Unitarians  and  by  those  of 
Unitarian  thought  among  the  Friends  and  in  ortho- 
dox Churches. 

It  was  Thomas  Paine,  who  along  with  Benjamin 
Franklin,  organized  the  first  anti-slavery  Society 
in  the  United  States,  and  in  the  great  anti-slavery 
contest  Unitarians  such  as  Channing,  Theodore 
Parker,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Henry  W.  Bellows, 
Gerrit  Smith,  Thomas  W.  Higginson,  Charles  Sum- 
ner, Edward  Everett,  Frederick  Douglass,  Miss 
Mary  A.  Livermore,  the  poets  Longfellow,  Lowell, 
Bryant,  and  Whittier,  and  Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe, 
author  of  ''The  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic,"  all 
took  a  part,  that  freedom  might  win  its  day. 

It  was  Miss  Dorothea  Dix  who  brought  reforms 
into  prison  life  and  started  hospitals  for  the  insane. 
It  was  Horace  Mann  who  helped  to  mould  the  public 
school  system  of  the  United  States.     It  was   Dr. 


THE   UNITARIAN.  165 

Samuel  G.  Howe  and  Col.  Thomas  H.  Perkins  who 
built  homes  and  started  schools  for  the  deaf  and  the 
blind.  It  was  Henry  W.  Bellows,  Dorman  B.  Eaton, 
George  William  Curtis,  Senator  Hoar  and  Senator 
Burnside  who  pushed  forward  civil  service  reform. 
The  City  of  Boston  has  been  full  of  institutions  per- 
meated with  the  spirit  of  altruism,  and  these  to  a 
very  large  extent  were  started  under  Unitarian  ini- 
tiative. Unitarianism  in  its  early  days  was  charac- 
terized by  humanitarianism  and  generosity.  Father 
Taylor  and  his  mission  to  sailors  received  encour- 
agement from  Channing  and  Emerson  and  was  sup- 
ported out  of  gifts  from  Unitarians.  It  was  the 
many  charities  of  Boston ian  Unitarians  which  im_= 
pressed  Charles  Dickens,  another  Unitarian,  and 
brought  forth  words  of  high  comm.endation,  amid 
his  criticisms  of  other  features  of  American  life. 
The  founder  of  two  Am_erican  Societies  for  the  Pre= 
vention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  a  form  of  kindliness, 
if  not  of  humanity,  were  Henry  Bergh  of  New  York 
and  Geo,  T.  An.gell  of  Boston.  The  Tuskegee  Insti= 
tute  and  the  Hampton  Institute  in  their  work  to 
educate  the  negroes  have  annually  received  liberal 
contributions  from  Unitarians. 

All  Christian  denominations  and  especially  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  have  of  late  made  much  of  social  service. 
Intellectual  speculation  and  dogmatic  controversy 
have  given  place  to  good  works.  This  feature  of 
Unitarianism  from  the  very  outset  of  its  separation 
from  Congregationalism — the  silent,  effective  influ- 
ence of  a  whole  century — is  something  now  regarded 
as  of  supreme  importance,  and  receives,  as  it  ought 
to  receive,  the  commendation  of  all  good  Christians. 


166      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

Thus  the  Rev.  J.  T.  Sunderland  (the  Unitarian  who 
visited  our  Institute  and  brought  upon  us  some  un- 
kindly admonitions)  speaks  of  the  Churches  of  the 
future:  'They  will  be  mightily  interested  in  all 
such  practical  matters  as  schools  and  education  and 
civil  order,  and  social  justice,  and  industrial  better- 
ment, and  the  putting  of  conscience  into  business 
and  putting  moral  principles  into  politics,  and  tem- 
perance,— and  the  remedying  of  race  and  class  in- 
justices, and  the  abolition  of  war  and  all  other  move- 
ments and  reforms,  the  aim  of  which  is  to  dry  up 
the  dark  streams  of  evil  and  crime  and  suffering 
in  the  world  and  to  lift  up  men,  communities  and 
nations  to  higher  planes  of  moral  life." 

This,  in  fact,  is  the  essence  of  Christianity,  as 
lived  out  by  Jesus  Christ,  who  went  about  among 
men  doing  good. 

IX. 

The  last  feature  of  the  Unitarian  body  which 
we  may  appreciate,  though  not  as  much  the 
more  spiritual  qualities,  is  the  great  influence  ex- 
erted on  and  in  literature,  learning  and  high  states- 
manship. The  Unitarian  body  has  always  been  a 
cultured  body.  At  times  this  fact  has  tended  to  puff 
up,  not  the  thinkers  themselves,  but  those  who  have 
dwelt  in  the  sunshine  of  these  men  of  genius.  The 
philanthropists  and  reformers,  whom  we  have  al- 
ready mentioned,  were  all  men  and  women  of  pure 
refinement  and  true  culture.  Amongst  American 
Presidents  affiliated  with  the  Unitarian  body  or  in 
sympathy  with  its  interpretation  of  life  and  of  reli- 
gion, have  been  John  Adams  and  John  Quincy 
Adams,   Thomas  Jefferson   and   Millard  Fillmore, 


THE   UNITARIAN.  167 

William  Howard  Taft,  and,  so  far  as  the  drift  of  his 
thinking  is  concerned,  Abraham  Lincoln.  Chief 
Justice  Marshall,  and  Justices  Story,  Wayne,  and 
Miller ;  Vice-President  Hamlin ;  the  statesmen  Daniel 
Webster,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Allen  G.  Thurman,  Will- 
iam E.  Chandler,  John  D.  Long  and  Justin  D.  Mor- 
rill; the  scientists  and  educators,  Lowell  and  Eliot 
of  Harvard,  Jordan  of  Leland  Stanford,  Hall  of 
Clark  University;  John  Fiske,  Luther  Burbank, 
Louis  Agassiz,  and  John  Burroughs ;  the  historians, 
Bancroft,  Motley,  Prescott,  Hildreth  and  Parkman; 
actresses  like  Fanny  Kemble  and  Charlotte  Cush- 
man;  critics  like  Emerson,  Whipple,  Ticknor,  Bay- 
ard Taylor,  Louisa  M.  Alcott,  Bret  Harte,  Thoreau, 
Stoddard,  James  T.  Fields,  Charles  Eliot  Norton, 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  Har- 
riet Prescott  Spofford,  and  Edward  Everett  Hale, — 
these  are  some  of  the  many  lights  of  American  Uni- 
tarianism  which  have  reflected  their  glory  on  Amer- 
can  life.  The  list  in  England  and  on  the  continent 
is  smaller,  for  the  Unitarian  body  is  a  small  one,  and 
those  who  hold  to  Unitarian  views  prefer  to  remain 
in  the  larger  Churches  or  keep  aloof  from  all.  The 
beginnings  of  Unitarianism  were  with  Locke  the 
philosopher.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  the  scientist  and  John 
Milton  the  poet.  Its  chief  apostles  in  organizing  the 
movement  were  Lindsey  and  Priestley.  Some  of  the 
later  names  have  been  James  Martineau,  Brooke 
Herford,  Stopford  A.  Brooke,  Mrs.  Humphrey  Ward, 
J.  Estlin  Carpenter,  James  Drummond,  Sir  John 
Bowering,  author  of  "In  the  Cross  of  Christ  I  glory", 
Miss  Frances  P.  Cobbe,  the  Chamberlains  of  Bir- 
mingham, and  Holts  of  Liverpool. 

There  are  many  liberal  theologians,  preachers  and 


168      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

scholars  in  the  Continental  countries,  but  their  con- 
nexion as  a  rule  is  not  with  the  Unitarian  Church. 
Reference,  therefore,  is  unnecessary,  except  to  note 
that  those  in  sympathy  with  Unitarian  and  liberal 
religious  thought  have  rendered  great  service  to  the 
cause  of  sound  learning. 

These  nine  points  are  sufficient  to  convince  all 
who  are  interested  in  world  movements  and  in  unity 
among  all  nations  and  creeds,  that  Unitarianism  has 
won  a  deserved  place  not  only  in  the  interpretation 
of  Christian  truth,  in  its  selection  of  truths  that  are 
adaptable  to  human  needs  the  world  over.  It  has,  in 
our  opinion,  succeeded  as  well  as  most  schools  of  re- 
ligious thought  and  most  of  the  great  Church  organi- 
zations in  representing  the  inner  mind  of  Christ  and 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  Rev.  George  A.  Gordon, 
comparing  Unitarianism  and  Trinitarianism  in 
their  present  effect  on  religious  thought  and  prac- 
tice, has  said :  'Treachers  in  all  communions  have 
in  large  numbers  turned  from  Trinitarianism.  It  is 
not  publicly  denied  or  discarded;  it  is  secretly  con- 
fessed to  have  become  no  part  of  the  working  phi- 
losophy of  religion.  This  m.ood  will  doubtless  con- 
tinue to  prevail  to  some  extent  in  all  the  churches. 
For  certain  minds  the  interpretation  of  the  universe 
through  man  the  individual  is  supremely  attractive, 
because  of  its  apparent  simplicity  and  straightfor- 
wardness, its  freedom  from  contradictions,  and  from 
the  heavy,  although  at  times  transfigured,  fogs  that 
forever  lie  on  the  seas  of  mysticism.  What  is  known 
as  Unitarianism  sets  a  distinct  and  persistent  type 
of  theism.  It  is  well  to  recognize  its  principle  of 
interpretation,  its  philosophical  method,  and  its  en- 


THE   UNITARIAN.  169 

during  fascination  for  certain  orders  of  mind.  It 
is  well  to  confess  that  it  is  one  of  two  rival  types  of 
Christian  theism,  and  that  today  it  is  winning  in- 
creasing confidence  and  support.  It  should  be  added 
that  this  type  of  theism  holds,  inconsistently  as  it 
seems  to  me,  that  its  God  is  love  in  His  inmost  es- 
sence ;  that  it  carries  over  into  its  Deity  pretty  much 
the  same  moral  content  that  one  finds  in  its  great 
rival  type." 

Whilst  granting  that  Trinitarians  and  Unitarians 
will  not  be  able  to  think  alike  on  all  religious  ques- 
tions, it  is  our  hope  that  our  expressions  of  apprecia- 
tion of  the  Unitarian  from  the  Trinitarian  point  of 
view  will  shew  the  reasonableness  of  larger  co=oper= 
ation  in  all  spheres  of  religious  investigation  and  ac= 
tivity.  To  our  mind  it  is  clear  that  if  the  Unitarian 
can  be  induced  to  enter  on  som.e  form.s  of  Christian 
missions,  it  should  not  be  viewed  as  a  calamity; 
neither  should  the  one  who  suggests  it  be  charged 
with  ^'denying  his  Lord",  Beyond  this,  it  is  our 
judgement  that  movements  for  Christian  unity  or 
Church  ought  not,  at  this  stage  of  the  world's  prog= 
ress,  to  leave  out  Unitarians.  If  the  Calvinist  after 
years  of  fierce  controversy  with  the  Arminian  is  at 
last  willing  to  turn  the  once-antagonist  into  a  friend, 
and  so  to  present  the  Gospel  that  one  can  hardly 
tell  whether  it  is  a  Calvinist  or  an  Arminian  who  is 
speaking,  it  ought  to  be  possible  for  Unitarians  and 
Trinitarians  of  a  spiritual  type  and  with  spiritual 
aspirations  to  approach  each  other  with  a  smile, 
rather  than  a  frown,  each  ready  to  follow  the  Lord 
whithersoever  He  leadeth. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

APPRECIATION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  BY 
SKEPTICISM 

A  personal  reference  as  preliminary  to  a  discus- 
sion of  this  important  theme  may  be  of  some  inter- 
est. In  the  village  of  my  boyhood  days,  where  my 
father,  born  in  Scotland  and  nourished  in  Scottish 
theology  and  philosophy,  was  the  Presbyterian  pas- 
tor, we  had  as  near  neighbours  three  intelligent  men 
who  were  skeptics  not  much  different  from  blank 
atheists.  One  had  been  a  distinguished  politician 
and  member  of  Congress  from  south-western  New 
York.  As  a  lad  I  felt  drawn  to  these  men,  particu- 
larly to  the  last  one.  What  was  remarkable  was 
that  my  father  did  not  forbid  me  from  talking  with 
them,  or  from  taking  long  walks  over  the  fields  with 
the  ex-Congressman  who  was  such  a  recluse.  In 
my  father's  library,  now  forming  part  of  our  Insti- 
tute's library,  there  were  many  heavy  theological 
works  of  John  Owen,  Andrew  Fuller,  Richard  Bax- 
ter, Jonathan  Edwards,  Joseph  Bellamy  and  other 
kindred  spirits  of  orthodox  belief.  There  was  only 
one  work  of  fiction,  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  A  red- 
covered  novel  of  Charlotte  Bronte  called  "Jane 
Eyre,"  came  from  the  booksellers  by  mistake  into  the 
parsonage,  and  was  hid  away  under  a  pile  of  news- 
papers, until  it  caught  the  eye  of  my  young  inquir- 
ing mind,  and  was  feverishly  read,  when  my  father 

J70 


SKEPTICISM.  171 

was  out,  making  pastoral  calls.  What  was  again  re- 
markable was  that  alongside  of  this  Calvinistic  lit- 
erature, there  were  Unitarian  authors  such  as  Theo- 
dore Parker,  William  E.  Channing,  S.  T.  Coleridge, 
F.  H.  Hedge  and  James  Freeman  Clarke,  and  such 
skeptical  authors  as  Hume,  Gibbon,  John  Stuart 
Mill,  Rousseau,  Renan,  Strauss,  Tyndall  and  Her- 
bert Spencer.  I  love  to  take  these  books  down  from 
the  shelf  and  note  the  marked  passages,  which  teli 
me  not  only  how  these  writers  were  moved  to  speak 
highly  of  religion  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  also  how 
my  father,  rigidly  orthodox  and  unswervingly  con- 
scientious (he  walked  as  straight  as  he  thought) , 
was  seemingly  anxious  to  open  his  heart  in  sympa- 
thy to  every  doubter  and  ready  to  catch  the  first  note 
of  upward  aspiration. 

If  I  have  today  any  liberal  spirit  to  others  who 
think  differently  from  my  own  creed,  even  those 
who  grope  in  the  fogs  of  speculation  or  are  wet  with 
the  dews  of  doubt,  this  may  be  put  down  to  my 
heredity.  My  father  was  intellectually  orthodox, 
but  in  spirit  tolerant  of  others  and  sympathetic. 

Some  men,  like  the  Apostle  Thomas,  are  constitu- 
tionally doubters.  For  those  of  us  who  have  passed 
beyond  this  doubting  experience  or  who  find  it  easy 
to  believe,  it  is  well  to  train  ourselves  to  an  appre- 
ciation not  perhaps  of  all  the  arguments  of  skeptics, 
but  of  their  mental  difficulties  and  still  more  of  the 
measure  of  truth  or  the  phase  of  truth  to  which  they 
with  us  give  consent.  Should  they  reverently  and  in 
all  sincerity  bow  the  head  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  let 
us  renew  our  confidence  in  the  ultimate  triumph, 
through  a  larger  revelation  in  the  individual  soul, 


172      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  God,  the  One- All.    Let  us  hear 
the  words  of  Tennyson  in  'The  Ancient  Sage": — 

''Cleave  ever  to  the  sunnier  side  of  doubt, 

And  cling  to  Faith  beyond  the  forms  of  Faith ! 

She  reels  not  in  the  storm  of  warring  words, 

She  brightens  at  the  clash  of  'Yes'  and  'No,' 

She  sees  the  Best  that  glimmers  thro'  the  Worst, 

She  feels  the  Sun  is  hid  but  for  a  night. 

She  spies  the  summer  thro'  the  winter  bud. 

She  tastes  the  fruit  before  the  blossom  falls, 

She  hears  the  lark  within  the  songless  eggy 

She  finds  the  fountain  where  they  wail'd  'Mirage' !" 

The  way  Christianity  has  spread  these  twenty 
centuries  shows  that  there  is  something  divine  about 
its  origin  and  Providential  in  its  ever= widening  ex- 
pansion. The  very  skepticism,,  yea,  the  varied 
forms  of  skepticism,  which  it  has  had  to  face  from 
the  very  beginning,— this  with  all  the  opposition, 
hostility  and  persecution — show  that  Christianity 
has  come  to  this  world-wide  power  through  a  reli- 
gious struggle  and  a  spiritual  conquest.  It  is  a  case 
of  "the  survival  of  the  fittest".  What  men  have 
been  enabled  to  believe,  as  a  result  of  these  struggles, 
is  that  which  is  reasonable  to  believe.  The  develop- 
ment made  in  religious  thought  is  such  that  men  of 
genius,  philosophers,  scientists,  logicians,  men 
truest  to  their  better  self,  can  follow  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  act  of  theoretical  and  practical  wisdom. 

Briefly  and  generally  stated,  the  first  form  of 
skepticism  in  the  early  days  of  Christianity  through- 
out the  Roman  Empire  was  opposition  to  a  new  sys- 
tem of  religion  as  unequal  to  those  which  already 


SKEPTICISM.  173 

had  gained  recognition  among  the  leaders  of  thought 
in  the  different  races  of  that  wide-spread  Empire. 
A  few,  as  time  went  on,  directed  their  criticism  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  person  of  Jesus,  especially  as 
promulgated  by  Church  leaders  and  Church  Coun- 
cils. 

The  next  form  of  skepticism,  which  lasted  the 
longest  down  through  the  Middle  Ages,  but  never 
very  openly  expressed,  was  dissatisfaction  with  the 
Christian  Church  and  disgust  with  its  official  repre- 
sentatives. The  Church  took  the  place  of  the  Chris- 
tian Religion,  as  the  Religion  had  taken  the  place  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  this  very  change  gave  greater 
scope  for  the  assaults  of  skepticism.  This  assault 
on  Christianity  as  represented  by  the  Church  took 
on  a  special  literary,  but  unethical,  form  in  the  four- 
teenth, fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  This  was 
the  period  of  the  revival  of  classical  studies,  of 
learning  and  art — the  time  of  the  Renaissance.  As 
Dr.  Luthardt  of  Leipsic  has  said :  'The  foundation 
of  true  morality  was  wanting.  Classical  studies  re- 
sulted in  a  hitherto  unheard-of  licentiousness  of  life 
and  motive.  .  .  .  The  Platonic  academy  at  Flor- 
ence put  the  Platonic  philosophy  in  the  place  of 
Christianity,  and  Savonarola  strove  with  ardent  zeal 
against  heathen  immortality  and  heathen  belief,  as 
defended  by  the  highest  prelates."  The  moral  side 
of  the  Renaissance  spirit,  but  equally  opposed  to 
the  Roman  Church,  apeared  in  the  Reformation, 
which  brought  in  a  revival  in  religion  more  than  in 
learning.  In  this  form  there  was  not  less  belief  in 
real  Christianity,  but  more. 

A  new  form  of  skepticism  then  arose  both   in 


174      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  communities,  par- 
ticularly in  England,  Scotland,  France  and  Ger- 
many; this  was  the  deism  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries.  Here  was  a  denial  of  revela- 
tion. As  Lecky  in  his  ''History  of  Rationalism"  has 
said,  '*0f  all  the  English  deistical  works  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  the  influence  of  two  and  only  two  sur- 
vived the  controversy" — Hume  and  Gibbon.  The 
movement,  popular  in  high  English  circles,  won 
favor  also  in  France,  where  in  most  cases  ''it  was 
frivolous,  immoral,  and  denied  the  existence  of 
God".  In  the  French  form  it  captivated  Frederick 
the  Great,  but  in  Germany  it  had  more  moral  earn- 
estness than  in  France. 

From  the  rise  of  Deism  down  to  our  own  day,  the 
assault  on  Christianity  has  come  from  so  many 
quarters  and  assumed  so  many  shapes  that  defend- 
ers of  the  Faith  have  hardly  known  which  was  to 
face,  or  whether  offensive  war  would  not  be  better 
than  defensive.  Skepticism  has  appeared  now  as 
materialism,  now  as  naturalism,  now  as  humanism, 
now  as  rationalism,  and  occasionally  as  agnosticism. 
This  has  been  good  for  the  Christian.  It  has  kept 
him  moving;  rigidity  has  been  impossible.  He  has 
had  to  modify  his  views  or  rather  his  interpretation ; 
the  more  reasonable  and  adaptable  his  defence  of 
the  truth,  the  more  inclined  has  the  skeptic  been  to 
alter  his  own  statement  of  what  he  has  believed  to 
be  the  truth.  Learned  men  have  come  forward  to 
magnify  spirit  as  distinct  from  matter,  to  proclaim 
a  living,  ever-present  Supreme  Spirit  as  above  and 
yet  within  all  nature,  to  make  clear  that  greater 
than  Man  or  the  spirit  of  man  is  the  great  All-Spirit, 


SKEPTICISM.  175 

with  which  man's  spirit  may  hold  communion  and 
by  which  all  men  may  be  moved  to  higher  ideals,  and 
to  show  that  human  reason,  however  great  it  is, 
draws  its  life  from  divine  Reason  and  should  strive 
to  think  in  terms  of  the  Infinite. 

The  liberal  movement  inside  the  Church  has  modi- 
fied the  extreme  antagonism  of  materialists,  ration- 
alists, positivists,  or  whatever  they  be  called,  in  the 
forces  of  skepticism.  It  was  the  Unitarian  Lardner 
who  wrote  the  best  defence  of  historical  Christian- 
ity in  refutation  of  the  arguments  of  Deists.  It  was 
Spinoza,  Lessing  and  Schleiermacher  who  brought 
back  God  into  His  world  and  lowered  the  barrier  be- 
tween the  natural  and  the  supernatural.  It  has  been 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge  and  F.  W.  H.  Myers  who  have 
shown  not  only  that  there  is  spirit  as  well  as  matter, 
but  that  spirit  rules  matter  and  permeates  matter. 
Thus  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  in  his  "Man  and  the  Uni- 
verse" says:  'The  spread  of  skepticism  and  dog- 
matic agnosticism  is  largely  due  to  an  attempted 
maintenance  of  incredible  and  materialistic  dogmas 
by  the  orthodox,  to  the  comparative  neglect  of  the 
essential,  the  spiritual  and  the  practical." 

Skepticism  in  time  changed  the  form  of  attack  on 
Christianity  into  the  form  of  historical  criticism  of 
the  Scriptures.  The  result  was  a  wider  and  more 
intelligent  study  of  the  Bible,  both  inside  and  outside 
the  Church.  The  Bible  became  the  greatest  of  all 
study  instead  of  philosophic  themes.  In  so  far  as 
the  liberal  element  in  the  Church  has  dared  to  make 
use  of  the  results  of  higher  criticism,  so  far  has  the 
Bible  as  a  spiritual  guide  taken  on  new  power,  and 
the  critics  such  as  Bauer,  Wellhausen,  Kuenen  and 


176      A  christian's  appreciation  op  other  faiths. 

Driver  have  never  desired  to  destroy  the  true  foun- 
dations of  religious  faith,  but  merely  to  know- 
through  accurate  scientific  investigation  and  his- 
torical criticism  what  is  true  and  what  is  false  as  to 
these  foundations.  The  result  has  been  that  men 
still  go  to  the  Bible  as  containing  within  its  pages 
amid  all  the  writers  of  many  centuries  an  authorita- 
tive message  from  God,  being  ''profitable  for  doc- 
trine, for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in 
righteousness,  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect, 
thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works." 

The  final  form  of  skepticism,  being  gradually  de- 
veloped through  the  last  century,  and  particularly 
the  last  few  decades,  is  the  application  of  the  sci- 
entific principles  to  an  historical  examination  of  the 
records  concerning  Jesus  Christ.  This  historical 
criticism  has  advanced  again  to  a  philosophic  study 
of  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  Here,  too,  liberal 
thought  in  the  large  communions,  and  specially  in 
such  bodies  as  the  Unitarian,  has  helped  to  bring 
back  to  a  religious  faith  those  who  might  otherwise 
have  withdrawn  from  the  teachings  and  personality 
of  Jesus  Christ.  The  real  test  has  come  to  be 
whether  one  will  obey  the  will  of  God  however  made 
known,  and  whether  one  will  follow  Jesus  as  the  su- 
preme leader  in  spiritual  truth,  life  and  conduct. 
As  Christianity  has  of  late  become  more  evangelical, 
so  skepticism,  it  may  also  be  said,  has  become  evan- 
gelical. Nothing  is  more  encouraging  as  to  the 
progress  of  Christianity  than  that  Christian  and 
non-Christian,  are  turning  to  Jesus  of  Nazareth  or 
to  the  Christ  of  God  as  the  centre  of  all  religion. 

The  more  liberal  conception  of  the  mission  and 


SKEPTICISM.  177 

nature  of  Jesus  as  given  by  a  learned  scientist,  is 
that  expressed  in  the  following  words  of  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge:  ''Through  incarnation  of  the  Christ  Spirit 
certain  aspects  of  Deity  were  revealed  to  humanity 
in  a  unique  degree;  but  the  more  akin  to  ordinary 
humanity  that  incarnation  can  be  considered,  the 
more  luminous  is  the  teaching,  and  the  better  for  the 
hold  of  Christianity  upon  the  race.  One  of  the  les- 
sons to  be  learned  is  the  potentiality  of  the  Divine 
latent  in  all  humanity.  .  .  .  The  Divinity  of  Jesus 
is  the  truth  which  now  requires  to  be  re-perceived, 
to  be  illumined  afresh  by  new  knowledge,  to  be 
cleansed  and  revivified  by  the  wholesome  flood  of 
skepticism  which  has  poured  over  it.  It  can  be 
freed  now  from  all  trace  of  grovelling  superstition, 
and  can  be  recognized  freely  and  enthusiastically: 
the  Divinity  of  Jesus,  and  of  all  other  noble  and 
saintly  souls,  in  so  far  as  they,  too,  have  been  in- 
flamed by  a  spark  of  Deity — in  so  far  as  they,  too, 
can  be  recognized  as  manifestations  of  the  Divine." 
These  varieties  of  unbelief,  as  seen  in  European 
history  through  1900  years,  can  hardly  be  the  same 
as  the  forms  of  unbelief  as  directed  to  Christianity 
in  non-Christian  nations  of  today,  such  as  China  or 
Japan  or  India.  The  first  form  which  we  have  men- 
tioned as  appearing  in  the  early  days  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church — that  of  opposition  from  other  compet- 
ing Religions — appears  also  amongst  these  peoples 
who  today  are  becoming  acquainted  with  Christian- 
ity. The  Brahman,  the  Confucianist,  the  Buddhist, 
will  not  always  accept  Christianity  on  the  word  of 
the  Church,  or,  rather,  on  the  word  of  the  mission- 
ary.    There  will  be  years  of  competition  between 


178      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

these  ancient  Faiths  of  Eastern  Asia.  All  the  other 
forms  of  skepticism  which  Europe  has  had  will 
probably  not  enter  into  the  experience  of  Eastern 
Asia,  except  perhaps  the  very  last,  that  which  con- 
cerns Jesus  Christ.  The  results  of  the  experience 
in  Europe  and  America  should  enable  Christian  mis- 
sionaries to  bring  to  these  populous  nations  the 
truths  of  Christianity,  in  a  more  acceptable  way, 
especially  ''the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus".  Thus,  per- 
haps, a  conflict  between  belief  and  unbelief  may  be 
avoided,  and  Jesus  as  Teacher,  Guide  and  Master, 
yea,  as  Saviour  and  Lord,  may  be  gladly  accepted  as 
an  act  of  the  highest  reason.  Christianity,  if  pre- 
sented in  the  theological  terms  of  the  past,  will 
arouse  opposition  amongst  the  intelligent  men  of 
these  great  nations,  but  if  it  be  presented  as,  after 
the  conflict,  it  is  more  and  more  being  presented  in 
the  pulpits  and  divinity  halls  of  the  West  by  the 
more  liberal  school,  it  will  command  the  respect  and 
devotion  of  the  learned  here,  as  of  the  learned  else- 
where. 

It  is  our  purpose  to  present  the  testimony  of  some 
of  the  leading  skeptics,  and  of  those  who  have  stood 
outside  the  pale  of  the  Church,  concerning  Jesus 
Christ.  When  the  forms  of  skepticism  were  directed 
against  the  Bible,  against  the  Church,  or  against 
what  was  called  the  Supernatural,  there  were  fewer 
references  to  the  personality  of  Jesus.  Some  of  the 
names  of  this  later  period  in  European  history  are 
already  known  to  educated  Chinese,  not  so  much, 
however,  through  their  religious  opinions  as  through 
their  ideas  on  political  and  social  problems. 

Napoleon  the  First  was  too  busy  a  man  to  think 


SKEPTICISM.  179 

much  of  religion  or  to  formulate  for  himself  a  sys- 
tem of  belief  or  unbelief.  His  attitude  was  that  of 
indifferentism.  If  he  worshipped  anything  during 
his  days  of  power  it  was  Ambition  and  Destiny. 
When  banished  to  St.  Helena,  he  had  leisure  for  re- 
flection, and  in  his  last  will  he  declared,  **I  die  in  the 
apostolic  Roman  religion,  in  the  bosom  of  which  I 
was  born  more  than  fifty  years  since."  In  a  conver- 
sation recorded  with  General  Bertrand  before  his 
death,  he  is  quoted  as  saying: 

''Alexander,  Caesar,  Charlmagne,  and  myself 
founded  empires.  But  on  what  did  we  rest  the  crea- 
tions of  our  genius?  Upon  force.  Jesus  Christ 
alone  founded  his  empire  upon  love;  and,  at  this 
hour,  millions  of  men  would  die  for  him." 

And  again:  ''Behold  the  destiny,  near  at  hand, 
of  him  whom  the  world  called  the  great  Napoleon ! 
What  an  abyss  between  my  deep  misery  and  the 
eternal  reign  of  Christ,  which  is  proclaimed,  loved, 
adored,  and  which  is  extending  over  all  the  earth! 
Is  this  to  die  ?  is  it  not  rather  to  live  ?  The  death  of 
Christ — it  is  the  death  of  a  God  V 

Before  his  time,  one  of  the  French  encyclopedists, 
Diderot,  atheistical  in  his  skepticism,  after  listening 
to  the  strongly-expressed  views  of  a  company  of  infi- 
dels, startled  them  by  the  following  assertion  as  to 
the  Bible  and  Christ: 

"I  defy  you  all — as  many  as  are  here— to  prepare 
a  tale  so  simple,  and  at  the  same  time  so  sublime 
and  so  touching,  as  the  tale  of  the  passion  and  death 
of  Jesus  Christ;  which  produces  the  same  effect, 
which  makes  a  sensation  as  strong  and  as  generally 


180      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

felt,  and  whose  influence  will  be  the  same,  after  so 
many  centuries.*' 

Rousseau  is  a  name  that  carries  great  weight  in 
China  amongst  advanced  thinkers  on  the  rights  of 
man.  In  1760  he  wrote  a  book  on  education,  wherein 
he  gave  his  testimony  concerning  Jesus  and  his  Gos- 
pel. For  this  discussion  of  morals  and  religion  he 
was  banished  from  France  under  orders  of  Parlia- 
ment. The  following  are  some  of  his  words  on  the 
record  of  the  Scriptures  concerning  Jesus,  and  on 
his  own  estimate : 

*'Is  it  possible  that  the  sacred  personage  whose 
history  it  contains  should  be  himself  a  mere  man? 
Do  we  find  that  he  assumed  the  tone  of  an  enthusiast 
or  ambitious  sectary?  What  sweetness,  what  pur- 
ity, in  his  manner !  What  an  affecting  gracefulness 
in  his  instructions !  What  sublimity  in  his  maxims ! 
What  profound  wisdom  in  his  discourses!  What 
presence  of  mind,  what  subtlety,  what  fitness,  in  his 
replies !  How  great  the  command  over  his  passions ! 
Where  is  the  man,  where  the  philosopher,  who  could 
so  live  and  so  die,  without  weakness,  and  without 
ostentation  T* 

And  then  he  adds:  'The  death  of  Sokrates, 
peacefully  philosophizing  among  friends,  appears 
the  most  agreeable  that  one  could  wish:  that  of 
Jesus,  expiring  in  agonies,  abused,  insulted,  and  ac- 
cused by  a  whole  nation,  is  the  most  horrible  that 
one  could  fear.  Sokrates,  indeed,  in  receiving  the 
cup  of  poison,  blessed  the  weeping  executioner  who 
administered  it ;  but  Jesus,  amidst  excruciating  tor- 
tures, prayed  for  his  merciless  tormentors.    Yes,  if 


SKEPTICISM.  181 

the  life  and  death  of  Sokrates  were  those  of  a  sage, 
the  life  and  death  of  Jesus  are  those  of  a  God." 

The  one  French  writer  who  has  made  special 
study  of  the  life  and  character,  the  mission  and  na- 
ture, of  Jesus  Christ,  is  Renan,  who  died  in  1892. 
In  his  Hibbert  Lectures  of  1879,  he  makes  the  state- 
ment that  ''the  true  miracle  of  nascent  Christianity" 
was  "the  spirit  of  Jesus,  strongly  grafted  into  his 
disciples ;  the  spirit  of  sweetness,  of  self-abnegation, 
of  f orgetf ulness  of  the  present ;  that  unique  pursuit 
of  inward  joys  which  kills  ambition;  that  preference 
boldly  given  to  childhood;  those  words,  'Whosoever 
will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant'." 
In  his  "Life  of  Jesus",  he  speaks  of  Him  in  these 
words : 

"This  sublime  Person,  who  daily  presides  still 
over  the  destiny  of  the  world,  we  may  call  divine, 
not  in  the  sense  that  Jesus  absorbed  all  the  divine, 
or,  to  use  a  scholastic  word,  was  adequate  to  it,  but 
in  the  sense  that  Jesus  is  the  individual  who  has 
made  his  species  take  the  greatest  step  towards  the 
divine."  And  again,  "Jesus  is  the  highest  of  the 
pillars  that  shew  to  man  whence  he  comes  and 
whither  he  ought  to  tend.  In  Him  is  condensed  ail 
that  is  good  and  exalted  in  our  nature".  His  view 
of  Christ  is  much  like  that  of  the  spiritual  school  in 
Unitarianism.    He  says : 

"Jesus  has  no  visions ;  God  does  not  speak  to  him 
from  without;  God  is  in  him;  he  feels  that  he  is  with 
God,  and  he  draws  from  his  heart  what  he  says  of 
his  Father.  Jesus  never  for  a  moment  announces 
the  sacrilegious  idea  that  he  is  God.  He  beli^^ves 
that  he  is  in  direct  communion  with  God ;  he  believes 


182      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

himself  the  son  of  God.  The  highest  consciousness 
of  God  which  ever  existed  in  the  breast  of  humanity 
was  that  of  Jesus."  In  another  place,  referring  to 
his  message  to  the  woman  at  the  well  in  Samaria, 
that  "the  hour  cometh  when  ye  shall  worship  neither 
in  this  mountain  nor  yet  at  Jerusalem,  but  when  the 
true  worshippers  shall  worship  the  Father  in  truth," 
he  adds: 

"On  the  day  when  he  pronounced  these  words,  he 
was  indeed  the  son  of  God.  He  for  the  jfirst  time 
gave  utterance  to  the  idea  upon  which  shall  rest  the 
edifice  of  the  everlasting  religion.  He  founded  the 
pure  worship,  of  no  age,  of  no  clime,  which  shall  be 
that  of  all  lofty  souls  to  the  end  of  time.  Not  only 
was  his  religion,  that  day,  the  benign  religion  of 
humanity,  but  it  was  the  absolute  religion;  and  if 
other  planets  have  inhabitants  endowed  with  reason 
and  morality,  their  religion  cannot  be  different  from 
that  which  Jesus  proclaimed  at  Jacobus  well." 

After  referring  to  the  Crucifixion  of  Christ,  he 
thus  apostrophizes :  "Repose  now  in  thy  glory,  no- 
ble founder.  Thy  work  is  finished;  thy  divinity  is 
established.  Fear  no  more  to  see  the  edifice  of  thy 
labours  fall  by  any  fault.  Henceforth,  beyond  the 
reach  of  frailty,  thou  shalt  witness  from  the  heights 
of  divine  peace,  the  infinite  results  of  thy  acts.  At 
the  price  of  a  few  hours  of  suffering,  which  did  not 
even  reach  the  grand  soul,  thou  has  bought  the 
most  complete  immortality.  For  thousands  of  years, 
the  world  will  depend  on  thee !  Banner  of  our  con- 
tests, thou  shalt  be  the  standard  about  which  the 
hottest  battle  will  be  given.  A  thousand  times  more 
alive,  a  thousand  times  more  beloved,  since  thy  death 


SKEPTICISM.  183 

than  during  thy  passage  here  below,  thou  shalt  be- 
come the  corner  stone  of  humanity  so  entirely,  that 
to  tear  thy  name  from  this  world  would  be  to  rend  it 
to  its  foundations.  Between  thee  and  God,  there  will 
no  longer  be  any  distinction.  Complete  conqueror 
of  death,  take  possession  of  thy  kingdom,  whither 
shall  follow  thee,  by  the  royal  road  which  thou  hast 
traced,  ages  of  worshippers." 

He  closes  his  fascinating  work  with  these  words : 
''But  whatever  may  be  the  surprises  of  the  future, 
Jesus  will  never  be  surpassed.  His  worship  will 
grow  young  without  ceasing;  his  legend  will  call 
forth  tears  without  end ;  his  sufferings  wall  melt  the 
noblest  hearts ;  all  ages  will  proclaim  that  among  the 
sons  of  men  there  is  none  born  greater  than  Jesus." 
When  Renan  was  elected  to  the  Chair  of  Hebrew 
in  the  College  de  France,  his  opening  lecture  con- 
tained views  like  these,  and  he  spoke  of  Jesus  as  the 
"Incomparable  Man".  This  caused  the  Catholic 
party,  then  strong  in  France,  to  bring  about  his  re- 
moval from  this  chair,  for  which  he  was  well  fitted, 
to  an  inferior  post  as  sub-librarian.  It  is  of  interest 
for  us  to  see  how  far  removed  from  the  claims  of 
deism  was  the  belief  of  Renan.  By  acceptance  of 
the  new  teaching  of  the  God's  immanence  in  human- 
ity, he  takes  the  position  that  Jesus  was  not  only  the 
greatest  of  men  but  was  divine,  as  endued  with  the 
spirit  of  God.  The  positive  statements  of  Renan 
concerning  Jesus,  though  not  his  negative  criticism, 
are  those  today  heard  in  congregations  of  Christians 
who  seek  a  message  that  meets  the  wants  of  the  soul, 
by  pointing  to  Him  who  is  "the  Way,  the  Truth,  and 
the  Life",  the  Incomparable  Man,  the  Son  of  God. 


184      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

Having  cited  the  testimony  of  four  distinguished 
Frenchmen,  who  while  skeptical  as  to  many  Chris- 
tian doctrines,  yet  praised  the  character  of  Jesus 
and  exalt  him  to  the  highest  position  among  the  sons 
of  men,  we  now  cite  the  testimony  of  four  leading 
Germans.  It  is  from  Germany  that  we  have  heard 
most  about  Rationalism,  and  it  is  interesting  to  see 
its  attitude  to  Jesus  Christ. 

The  first  one  is  Strauss,  whose  **Life  of  Jesus'' 
created  as  great  a  stir  in  orthodox  circles  as  did 
later  the  "Life"  by  Renan..  Renan's  was  the  more 
popular  of  the  two,  but  Strauss'  was  scholarly  and 
solid,  the  result  of  careful  historical  criticism.  His 
conclusions  are  no  more  to  be  taken  as  infallible 
than  the  conclusions  of  other  students.  The  two 
volumes  published  in  1835  first  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  English-speaking  peoples  through  the  trans- 
lation of  the  free  thinker  generally  spoken  of  as 
George  Eliot. 

In  one  of  his  printed  essays  published  in  1838,  his 
opinion  as  expressed  is  not  as  drastic  as  that  which 
he  is  generally  suposed  to  hold.    He  then  says : 

"If  in  Jesus  the  union  of  the  self-consciousness 
with  the  consciousness  of  God  has  been  real,  and 
expressed  not  only  in  words,  but  actually  revealed  in 
all  the  conditions  of  his  life,  he  represents  within 
the  religious  sphere  the  highest  point,  beyond  whom 
posterity  cannot  go ;  yea,  whom  it  cannot  even  equal, 
inasmuch  as  every  one  who  hereafter  should  climb 
the  same  height,  could  only  do  it  with  the  help  of 
Jesus,  who  first  attained  it.  As  little  as  humanity 
will  ever  be  without  religion,  as  little  will  it  be  with- 
out  Christ;   for   to   have   religion   without   Christ 


SKEPTICISM.  185 

would  be  as  absurd  as  to  enjoy  poetry  without  re- 
gard to  Homer  or  Shakespeare.  And  this  Christ, 
as  far  as  is  inseparable  from  the  highest  style  of 
religion,  is  historical,  not  mythical ;  is  an  individual, 
no  mere  symbol.  To  the  historical  person  of  Christ 
belongs  all  in  his  life  that  exhibits  his  religious  per- 
fection, his  discourses,  his  moral  action,  and  his 
passion.  .  .  .  He  remains  the  highest  model  of  re- 
ligion ivithin  the  reach  of  our  thought;  and  no  per- 
fect piety  is  possible  without  his  presence  in  the 
heart.*' 

His  ideas  concerning  Jesus  are  that  his  incarna- 
tion gives  the  idea  of  a  wider  incarnation  of  all  hu- 
manity, whereupon  the  original  fact  is  no  longer 
needed  as  an  object  of  belief.    He  thus  writes : 

"Faith,  in  her  early  stages,  is  governed  by  the 
senses,  and  therefore  contemplates  a  temporal  his- 
tory; what  she  holds  to  be  true  is  the  external  ordi- 
nary event,  the  evidence  for  which  is  of  the  histori- 
cal, forensic  kind, — a  fact  to  be  proved  by  the 
testimony  of  the  senses,  and  the  moral  confidence 
inspired  by  the  witnesses.  But  mind  having  once 
taken  occasion  of  this  external  fact  to  bring  under 
its  consciousness  the  idea  of  humanity  as  one  with 
God,  sees  in  the  history  only  the  presentation  of  that 
idea ;  the  object  of  faith  is  completely  changed ;  in- 
stead of  a  sensible,  empirical  fact,  it  has  become  a 
spiritual  and  divine  idea,  which  has  its  confirmation 
no  longer  in  history  but  in  philosophy.  When  the 
mind  has  thus  gone  beyond  the  sensible,  and  entered 
into  the  domain  of  the  Absolute,  the  former  ceases 
to  be  essential.'* 

An  even  greater  scholar  of  the  Rationalistic  type 


186       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

in  Germany,  an  historian,  theologian  and  scientific 
investigator,  was  Dr.  F.  C.  Baur,  a  Professor  in 
Tubingen  University.  He  approached  the  study  of 
Jesus  Christ  by  a  pure  historical  investigation  of 
the  Nev^  Testament  Books.  The  Hegelian  philosophy 
of  Tubingen,  that  of  God's  immanence,  also  perme- 
ated Baur's  conception  of  history,  as  it  has  greatly 
affected  modern  thought.  Christianity,  as  he  looks 
at  it,  is  part  of  the  development  that  runs  through 
all  history  and  is  itself  a  development  from  the  reli- 
gious ideas  of  the  past.  It  is  ''the  ripe  fruit  of  all 
the  higher  longings  that  had  hitherto  stirred 
amongst  all  branches  of  the  great  human  family." 
Of  this  religion  thus  developed  he  says :  'That  the 
elements  of  a  new  religious  development,  which  per 
se  were  already  extant,  should  have  concentrated 
themselves  in  the  generation  of  a  new  life  at  one 
particular  point  and  in  one  special  individual, — this 
is  the  wonder  in  the  history  of  the  origin  of  Chris- 
tianity which  no  historical  reflection  can  further 
analyse."  He  even  adds  that  he,  too,  "acknowledges 
a  certain  supernatural  character  and  a  divine  prin- 
ciple working  in  an  especial  manner"  in  this  newly- 
developed  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  Dr.  Baur  also 
makes  this  striking  statement :  "That  which  exalts 
Christianity,  as  against  all  other  belief,  to  the  dig- 
nity of  the  absolute  religion,  is  in  the  last  instance 
nothing  but  the  purely  moral  character  of  its  facts, 
doctrines  and  requirements."  He  thus  places  em- 
phasis on  the  moral  purport  of  Christ's  teachings, 
and  life  and  mission,  a  view  which  has  gained  cur- 
rency in  modern  Christian  movements.  In  the  same 
line  he  says:    "All  that  belongs  to  the  truly  moral 


SKEPTICISM.  187 

purport  of  Christ's  teachings,  as  contained  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  parables  (  etc., — his  doc- 
trine as  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  conditions  of 
its  membership  whereby  man  is  placed  in  a  truly 
moral  relation  to  God, — all  this  constitutes  the  in- 
trinsic essence  of  Christianity  and  its  substantial 
centre." 

A  third  noted  German,  one  of  the  great  poets  of 
all  time,  is  Goethe,  who  lived  before  Strauss  and 
Baur,  djdng  in  1832.  He  thus  writes  of  the  religion 
of  Christ :  *'The  greatest  honour  is  due  to  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  for  continually  proving  its  pure  and 
noble  origin  by  coming  forth  again,  after  the  great 
aberrations  into  which  human  perversity  has  led  it, 
more  speedily  than  was  expected,  with  its  primitive 
special  charm  as  a  mission,  a  family  friend,  a  broth- 
erhood, for  the  relief  of  human  necessity."  He  also 
says :  "I  esteem  the  Gospels  to  be  thoroughly  genu- 
ine, for  there  shines  forth  from  them  the  reflected 
splendour  of  a  sublimity  proceeding  from  the  person 
of  Jesus  Christ  and  of  so  divine  a  kind  as  only  the 
divine  could  ever  have  manifested." 

The  fourth  German  name  is  that  of  a  great  reli- 
gious philosopher  still  living.  Professor  Rudolf 
Eucken.  In  the  usual  meaning  attached  to  the  word 
skeptic.  Professor  Eucken  should  not  here  be  cited. 
His  religious  views  are  not  of  an  unbeliever  in  all 
religious  truth,  but  approach  one  branch  of  Ameri- 
can Unitarianism.  He  does  not  accept  the  orthodox 
interpretation  of  Christianity.  He  represents  phi- 
losophy rather  than  history.  Having  passed  through 
the  period  of  historical  criticism,  he  says :  "The 

shaking  of  the  historical  foundations  of  the  religious 


188      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

life  goes  still  further:  it  is  not  merely  that  we  are 
compelled  to  doubt  particular  items  of  their  con- 
tents, it  is  that  history  itself  no  longer  seems  proper 
to  serve  as  the  foundation  of  religion."  He  then 
quotes  Lessing's  famous  saying:  ''Accidental  truths 
of  history  can  never  become  the  proof  of  necessary 
truths  of  reason,"  and  Kant's  statement,  'That  his- 
torical belief  is  a  duty  and  belongs  to  salvation  is  su- 
perstition." Prof.  Eucken  then  adds :  "Can  such  a 
dissolution  of  the  old  blending  of  reason  and  history 
affect  and  shake  any  other  religion  more  deeply  than 
Christianity,  v^hich  is  the  most  historical  of  all  reli- 
gions?'' 

This  philosopher  thus  speaks  of  Christ :  "We  can 
honour  him  as  a  leader,  a  hero,  a  martyr;  but  we 
cannot  directly  bind  ourselves  to  him  or  root  our- 
selves in  him;  we  cannot  unconditionally  submit  to 
him.  Still  less  can  we  make  him  the  centre  of  a 
worship.  To  do  so,  from  our  point  of  view,  would 
be  nothing  less  than  an  intolerable  deification  of  a 
human  being." 

The  thought  here  is  that  religion  is  something 
more  than  belief  in  any  historical  event,  but  con- 
cerns one's  reason  or  consciousness  in  its  intimate 
relation  to  God,  the  Absolute  Being.  Thus  greater 
than  Christianity  is  religion,  greater  than  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  is  the  Christ  of  God,  the  Christ  of  the- 
ology, the  Christ  who  still  lives  in  human  experience. 

Whilst  to  most  of  us  Christianity  is  cherished  for 
its  historical  as  well  as  mystical  character,  this  new 
emphasis  contains  a  truth  which  means  much  to  each 
one's  personal  religion. 

We  now  turn  to  four  representatives  of  skepti- 


SKEPTICISM.  189 

cism  amongst  the  British,  and  see  what  they  have  to 
say  concerning  Jesus  Christ. 

The  first  name  is  Gibbon.  In  one  place  he  speaks 
of  "the  authentic  histories  of  the  actions  of  Christ." 
In  another  he  refers  to  ''the  purity  of  the  Christian 
Religion,  the  sanctity  of  its  moral  precepts,  and  the 
innocent  as  well  as  austere  lives"  of  the  early  follow- 
ers of  Christ.  In  another  he  speaks  of  "the  pure  and 
sublime  idea  which  they  entertained  of  the  Supreme 
Being"  and  "of  the  inscrutable  nature  of  the  divine 
perfections."  Speaking  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  he 
refers  to  "His  mild  constancy  in  the  midst  of  cruel 
and  voluntary  sufferings,  his  universal  benevolence, 
and  the  sublime  simplicity  of  his  actions  and  char- 
acter" and  to  the  way  men  "misrepresented  or  in- 
sulted the  equivocal  birth,  wandering  life,  and  igno- 
minous  death,  of  the  divine  author  of  Christianity." 

The  second  name,  even  better  known  to  the  Chi- 
nese from  his  views  on  political  topics,  is  John  Stu- 
art Mill.  "Who,"  he  says,  "amongst  all  the  disciples 
of  Jesus  or  amongst  their  proselytes  was  capable  of 
inventing  the  sayings  ascribed  to  Jesus,  or  of  im- 
agining the  life  and  character  revealed  in  the  Gos- 
pels? Certainly  not  the  fishermen  of  Galilee,  as  cer- 
tainly not  St.  Paul."  His  view  is  that  this  story 
could  not  have  been  a  human  construction,  but  the 
story  of  an  actual  person  who  taught  and  lived.  Mr. 
Mill  then  adds :  "It  is  the  God  incarnate,  more  than 
the  God  of  the  Jews  or  of  nature,  who,  being  ideal- 
ized, has  taken  so  great  and  salutary  a  hold  on  the 
modern  mind."  Once  again  these  words  are  used : 
"Not  even  now  would  it  be  easy,  even  for  an  unbe- 
liever, to  find  a  better  translation  of  the  rule  of  vir- 


190      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

tue  from  the  abstract  into  the  concrete  than  to  en- 
deavour so  to  live  that  Christ  would  approve  our 
life."  This  learned,  but  doubting,  thinker,  also  uses 
this  remarkable  language:  "Whatever  else  may  be 
taken  away  from  us  by  rational  criticism,  Christ  is 
still  left:  a  unique  figure,  not  more  unlike  all  his 
precursors  than  all  his  followers,  even  those  who 
had  the  direct  benefit  of  his  personal  teaching.  It 
is  of  no  use  to  say  that  Christ  as  exhibited  in  the 
Gospels  is  not  historical,  and  that  we  know  not  how 
much  of  what  is  admirable  has  been  superadded  by 
the  tradition  of  his  followers." 

The  third  name  is  Charles  Darwin.  Admiral  Sir 
James  Sullivan  mentions  that  when  Darwin  had 
expressed  to  him  the  uselessness  of  sending  mission- 
aries to  the  Fuegans,  he  replied  that  he  ''did  not  be- 
lieve any  human  beings  existed  too  low  to  compre- 
hend the  simple  message  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 
The  Admiral  then  adds:  "After  many  years  he 
(Darwin)  wrote  to  me  that  the  recent  account  of 
the  mission  shewed  that  he  had  been  wrong  and  I 
right,  and  he  requested  me  to  forward  to  the  Society 
an  enclosed  cheque  for  £5  as  a  testimony  of  his  in- 
terest in  their  good  work." 

A  fourth  English  name  is  James  Anthony  Froude, 
who  first  intended  to  become  a  clergyman,  but  grad- 
ually slipped  away  from  the  Faith,  as  revealed  in  his 
"Nemesis  of  Faith".  Notwithstanding  his  unbelief 
he  retained  reverence  for  true  religion  as  one  of 
love  and  trust.  "Such  a  Creed,"  he  said,  "had  it  re- 
mained as  it  came  from  its  Founder,  would  have 
changed  the  aspect  of  the  earth.  In  that  Religion 
hate  would  have  no  place,  for  love,  which  is  hate's 


SKEPTICISM,  191 

opposite,  was  its  principle."  Later  he  says: 
'Through  Christ  came  charity  and  mercy.  When  his 
name  and  his  words  had  been  preached  for  fifteen 
centuries,  there  was  none  found  who  could  tolerate 
difference  of  opinion  on  the  operation  of  the  bap- 
tism or  on  the  nature  of  his  presence  in  the  Eucha- 
rist." This  distinguished  historian,  who  died  in 
1894,  thus  passes  criticism  on  the  Church  and  the 
formulated  dogmas  of  the  Church,  but  retains  rever- 
ence for  Christ  and  belief  in  his  teachings  as  to  the 
quality  of  an  ethical  life. 

From  the  United  States  we  select  the  names  of 
only  three  skeptics  to  testify  concerning  Christ. 
The  first  American  name  is  that  of  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, third  President  of  the  United  States.  He  was 
skeptical,  but  it  is  hardly  correct  to  call  him  a  skep- 
tic. He,  as  other  Americans  of  that  period,  was 
greatly  influenced  by  the  free  thought  of  France  and 
the  Deism  of  England.  He  was  not,  however,  irreli- 
gious. In  his  home  in  Virginia  he  attended  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  in  belief  he  was  a  Unitarian. 
He  was  a  student  of  the  Bible,  and  made  a  collection 
of  the  sayings  of  Jesus,  which  the  United  States 
Government  has  since  published.  One  of  his  remarks 
was,  'The  doctrines  of  Jesus  are  simple  and  tend 
all  to  the  happiness  of  man."  Again:  "When  we 
shall  have  unlearned  everything  taught  since  His 
day,  and  got  back  to  the  pure  and  simple  doctrines 
He  inculcated,  we  shall  then  be  truly  and  worthily 
his  disciples ;  and  my  opinion  is  that,  if  nothing  had 
ever  been  added  to  what  flowed  from  His  lips,  the 
whole  world  would  at  this  day  have  been  Christian." 

The  second  name  is  that  of  Theodore  Parker,  who 


192      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

stands  forth  as  a  leader  in  Unitarianism,  but  has, 
like  Professor  Eucken,  been  looked  upon  in  past 
days  as  a  dangerous  man.  Whether  misjudged  as 
we  think  he  is,  or  not,  we  take  his  testimony  con- 
cerning Jesus  Christ.  In  one  of  his  eloquent  ad- 
dresses he  says:  "What  words  of  rebuke,  of  com- 
fort, counsel,  admonition,  promise,  hope,  did  He 
pour  out :  words  that  stir  the  soul  as  summer  dews 
call  up  the  faint  and  sickly  grass!  What  profound 
instruction  in  His  proverbs  and  discourses:  what 
wisdom  in  His  homely  sayings,  so  rich  with  Jewish 
life;  what  deep  divinity  of  soul  in  His  prayers,  his 
action,  sympathy,  resignation!  Rarely,  almost 
never,  do  we  see  the  vast  divinity  within  that  soul, 
which,  new  though  it  was  in  the  flesh,  at  one  step 
goes  before  the  world  whole  thousands  of  years; 
judges  the  race ;  decides  for  us  questions  we  dare  not 
agitate  as  yet,  and  breathes  the  very  breath  of  heav- 
enly love.  .  .  .  Shall  we  be  told,  'Such  a  man  never 
lived;  the  whole  story  is  a  lie'?  Suppose  that  Plato 
and  Newton  never  lived;  that  their  story  is  a  lie! 
But  who  did  their  works,  and  thought  their 
thoughts?  It  takes  a  Newton  to  forge  a  Newton. 
What  man  could  have  fabricated  a  Jesus?  None  but 
a  Jesus.*' 

The  third  name,  likewise  opposed  to  the  traditional 
interpretation  of  Christianity,  and  classed  amongst 
Unitarians,  is  the  great  scientist  and  historian,  Pro- 
fessor John  Fiske.  He  thus  writes  of  Jesus :  'The 
great  originality  of  His  teaching,  and  the  feature 
that  has  chiefly  given  it  power  in  the  world,  lay  in 
the  distinctness  with  which  He  conceived  a  state  of 
society  from  which  every  vestige  of  strife,  and  the 


SKEPTICISM.  193 

modes  of  behaviour  adapted  to  ages  of  strife,  shall 
be  utterly  and  forever  swept  away.  Through  mis- 
ery that  has  seemed  unendurable  and  turmoil  that 
has  seemed  endless,  men  have  thought  on  that  gra- 
cious life  and  its  sublime  ideal,  and  have  taken  com- 
fort in  the  sweetly  solemn  message  of  peace  on  earth 
and  good  will  to  men." 

Prof.  Fiske  has  two  chapters  entitled  "The  Jesus 
of  History"  and  ''The  Christ  of  Dogma,"  and  he 
says:  'Trom  the  dogmatic  point  of  view  Jesus  is 
best  known,  from  the  historic  point  of  view  he  is  the 
least  known.  The  Jesus  of  history  is  so  little  known 
just  because  the  Christ  of  dogma  is  so  well  known." 
From  the  historical  point  of  view  Prof.  Fiske  notes 
how  ''powerful  in  the  domain  of  ethics"  is  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  then  the  two  teachings  of  God's 
fatherhood  and  man's  brotherhood,  then  the  idea  of 
God,  and  then  he  sums  up,  "From  this  conception  of 
God  flowed  naturally  all  the  moral  teaching  of  Jesus, 
the  insistence  upon  spiritual  righteousness  instead 
of  the  mere  mechanical  observance  of  Mosaic  pre- 
cepts, the  call  to  be  perfect  even  as  the  Father  is 
perfect,  the  principle  of  the  spiritual  equality  of  men 
before  God,  and  the  equal  duties  of  all  men  towards 
each  other." 

These  out-spoken  testimonies  concerning  Jesus 
Christ  by  fifteen  distinguished  scholars,  who  amid 
much  unbelief  and  uncertainty  have  retained  rever- 
ence for  this  supreme  personality  of  human  history, 
afford  us  ground  for  a  few  generalizations. 

The  first  is  that  in  the  development  of  skeptical 
thought,  as  in  that  of  religious  belief  and  knowledge, 
Jesus  Christ  is  more  and  more  recognized  as  the 


194       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

ideal  pattern  in  the  spiritual  world.  As  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge  has  said,  "Whatever  view  we  may  take  of 
this  Personality,  we  can  most  of  us  recognize  it  as 
the  grandest  that  has  yet  existed  on  this  planet." 
The  late  Professor  Philip  Schaff  has  also  clearly 
shown  the  unique  position  of  Christ:  **It  seems  to 
be  felt  more  and  more,  that  He  is,  without  contro- 
versy, the  very  best  being  that  ever  walked  on  this 
earth,  and  that  an  attack  on  His  character  is  an  in- 
sult to  the  honour  and  dignity  of  humanity  itself. 
And  this  feeling  and  conviction  becomes  stronger 
and  deeper  as  history  advances.  The  impression  of 
Christ  upon  the  world,  far  from  losing  ground,  is 
gaining  new  strength  with  every  stage  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  controls  even  the  best  thinking  of  His  ene- 
mies." Were  it  only  left  for  Jesus  Himself  to  say, 
"Follow  thou  me,"  with  no  questioning  as  to  each 
one's  individual  conception  of  His  person  and  na- 
ture, the  number  of  His  followers  would  be  far 
larger  than  when  discipleship  is  expressed  in  human 
terms  by  human  creeds.  The  critical  mind  of  the 
real  scholar,  not  the  superficial  vapourings  of  self- 
conceit,  find  Christ  not  repellent  but  one  full  of 
charm,  persuasion  and  attraction.  The  working  men 
of  Europe  and  America  and  the  great  body  of  Social- 
ists may  not  return  to  the  Church,  but  they  can  be 
drawn  to  Jesus  Christ. 

The  second  point  which  impresses  us  is  that  the 
culmination  of  skepticism  has  been  that  of  historical 
criticism  of  the  Gospel  records,  rather  than  opposi- 
tion from  science  or  philosophy  or  irreligion.  Chris- 
tianity is  thus  more  a  matter  of  history  than  of  spec- 
ulation.   This  form  of  skepticism  is  for  us,  not  to 


SKEpTICl8^r.  195 

regret,  but  to  rejoice  in.  The  life  of  Jesus  as  lived 
on  the  earth,  as  a  part  of  history,  is  the  highest  of 
all  objects  for  historical  criticism.  What  Christians 
must  desire,  if  they  are  religious  Christians,  is  that 
Christianity  and  particularly  Jesus  Christ  be  known 
as  they  really  are,  in  other  words  that  we  have  the 
truth  concerning  Christ,  and  that  our  knowledge  of 
his  person,  even  as  a  divine  One,  be  accurate  and 
conducive  to  the  development  of  character. 

The  only  thing  that  ordinary  men  have  the  right 
to  expect,  is  that  this  part  of  human  and  universal 
history  be  studied  in  the  same  historical  spirit  or, 
what  we  may  call,  judicial  temperament,  as  any 
other  part  of  history.  For  an  historian  to  slight  the 
value  and  significance  of  history  would  indeed  be 
strange  and  for  him  to  do  so  because  the  history  is 
that  of  Jesus,  would  be  unjust.  The  results  of  his- 
torical investigation  may  in  certain  particulars  be 
stated  differently,  but  those  who  profess  no  great 
historical  insight,  demand  that  enough  of  history 
be  left  to  form  the  basis  of  an  historical  as  well  as 
speculative  religion.  We  want  a  real,  not  an  empty 
religion,  an  historical  not  a  mythical  or  non-existent 
Jesus. 

Hence,  when  such  men  of  historical  mind  as 
Renan,  Strauss,  Bauer,  Gibbon,  Froude,  and  Fiske, 
find,  after  all  their  probings  and  prunings,  a  real 
person  called  Jesus  Christ,  the  general  outline  of 
whose  life  is  contained  in  the  four  Gospels,  we  may 
rest  content  that  our  religion  has  an  historical  basis 
that  is  trustworthy.  The  Unitarian  writer,  the  Rev. 
Howard  N.  Brown,  pastor  of  King's  Chapel,  Boston, 
in  an  article  some  years  ago,  wrote:     "Altogether 


196      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

the  scholarship  best  entitled  to  our  confidence  tells 
us  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  really  lived,  and  that  the 
main  outline  of  His  life-story  is  about  as  valid  his- 
tory as  any  record  of  the  past  that  we  possess." 

Even  Lessing,  who  is  quoted  by  Professor  Eucken 
as  saying  that  the  ''accidental  truths  of  history  can 
never  become  the  proof  of  necessary  truths  of  rea- 
son", had  enough  of  common  sense  to  keep  steady 
his  philosophical  deductions  and  to  make  sure  the 
following  conclusion:  "If  Livy  and  Dionysius  and 
Polybius  and  Tacitus  are  so  candidly  and  honour- 
ably treated  by  us,  that  we  do  not  lay  them  upon  the 
rack  for  every  syllable,  why  do  we  not  extend  equal 
liberality  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John?"  So 
Professor  George  B.  Foster  of  Chicago  University, 
who  minimizes  the  value  to  the  Christian  of  the  his- 
toricity of  Jesus,  quotes  a  colleague  who  had  a  "far 
better  right  to  a  scientific  judgement"  as  saying 
"that  the  denial  that  Jesus  ever  lived  amounts  al- 
most to  historical  insanity." 

It  seems  at  first  sight  somewhat  surprising  that 
thinkers  in  the  Christian  Church,  even  teachers  and 
preachers  in  the  orthodox  communions,  have  of  late 
taken  the  position  that  the  historicity  of  Jesus  is  un- 
necessary even  though  it  be  not  yet  proved  that  such 
a  person  as  Jesus  never  lived  and  never  taught.  This 
kind  of  argument  is  not  because  they  are  frightened 
into  thinking  that  the  last  fortress  of  Christian 
apologetic  is  at  last  to  fall,  as  because  they  perceive, 
what  is  after  all  a  vital  truth,  that  religious  truth 
and  religious  faith  belong  to  the  essence  of  religion 
rather  than  issue  forth  from  historical  facts  or  from 
faith  in  historical  facts.    One  may  believe  in  a  fact 


SKEPTICISM.  197 

and  not  be  very  religious.  One  may  believe  in  the 
credibility  of  the  Gospel  record  concerning  Jesus, 
and  yet  have  but  httle  of  the  Christ  spirit  or  draw 
any  the  nearer  to  God  the  all-Holy.  Such  is  the  atti- 
tude taken  as  we  have  seen  by  Dr.  Eucken,  as  before 
him  by  Lessing  and  Kant.  This  is  far  from  assert- 
ing that  Jesus  is  not  an  historical  person,  and  that 
we  have  no  true  historical  record  concerning  him. 
The  argument  is  that  even  if  the  historicity  of  Jesus 
vanish  away  under  the  magic  power  of  these  his- 
torical critics,  we  would  not  lose  in  consequence  our 
religion,  neither  should  we  give  up  our  Christianity. 
Prof.  Benjamin  Warfield  of  Princeton,  refers  to  the 
Christianity  of  such  a  theory  ironically  as  ''Christ- 
less  Christianity". 

In  China  we  see  how  the  Buddhists  know  but  little 
of  Sakyamuni,  but  they  are  devout  in  worship  of  the 
many  Buddahs.  Even  the  Buddha  of  the  Mahayani 
school,  prevalent  in  China  and  Japan,  is  an  idea 
rather  than  a  person.  It  is  a  false  and  dangerous 
theory  to  claim  that  because  one  knows  but  little  of 
the  founders  of  a  Religion,  he  is  exempt  from  being 
virtuous  or  religious. 

Christian  Chinese,  like  all  persons  of  a  practical 
turn  of  mind,  are  attracted  to  Christianity  because 
of  the  historical  facts  that  lie  at  the  basis,  more  than 
by  the  mystery  or  abstractness  of  any  doctrine ;  but 
it  may  be  well  for  them  as  for  us  all  that  the  spirit- 
ual, and  mystical  aspects  of  the  essence  of  Chris- 
tianity are  receiving  new  emphasis,  so  that  truths 
which  come  from  God,  whatever  the  channel,— 
truths  about  God  and  of  man's  relation  to  God — may 
inspire,  guide  and  comfort,  even  though  what  were 


198      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

once  thought  facts  in  history  may  at  last  be  found 
to  be  no  facts. 

A  writer  in  'The  Hibbert  Journal,"  quoted  by 
Professor  Warfield,  says :  'Truth  is  truth,  whether 
uttered  by  Sophocles  or  Plato  in  Athens,  by  Hillel  or 
Jesus  in  Palestine,  by  Seneca  or  Aurelius  at  Rome." 
And  again :  "And  if,  in  the  inevitable  evolution  of 
the  not-distant  future,  Jesus,  too,  should  disappear 
from  the  assured  certainties  of  the  world,  man 
would  not  cease  to  be  religious."  Professor  Macin- 
tosh of  Yale  in  different  articles  holds  clearly  that 
we  would  not  cease  to  be  Christian,  because  Christ 
as  an  historical  personage  had  disappeared,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  certain  truths  called  Christian 
have  come  down  to  us  from  some  source  in  Pales- 
tine,  or  rather  from  God  through  some  channel,  be 
it  Jesus  or  those  who  told  his  story.  His  own  words 
are :  ''Whether  the  'spring'  was  a  group  of  Syrian 
mystics,  or,  as  we  have  no  doubt  it  was,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  the  creative  source  of  this  water  of  life  is 
none  other  than  the  very  being  and  activity  of  God," 
Again  he  says :  "We  should  be  very  far  from  agree- 
ing that  if,  for  good  and  sufficiently  critical  reasons, 
the  historicity  of  Jesus  had  to  be  given  up,  the 
deathknell  of  Christian  religious  faith  would  be 
sounded." 

There  is  no  reason  for  us  even  to  surmise  the  pass- 
ing away  of  Jesus  from  off  the  pages  of  history,  but 
it  is  well  that  as  an  indirect  result  of  historical 
criticism  we  learn  that  the  foundation  of  each  one's 
religion  must  be  within  one's  self,  must  be  empirical, 
"must  be  capable  of  immediate  realization." 

Tn  the  third  place  it  is  apparent  from  the  testi- 


SKEPTICISM.  199 

mony  of  these  scholarly  and  conscientious  men  of 
skeptical  mind  that  it  is  liberal  religion  as  exempli- 
fied by  Unitarianism  which  is  best  able  to  retain  for 
religion  and  for  Christianity,  the  affections  and  rev- 
erence of  men  who  find  it  hard  to  believe  all  the 
teachings  of  the  Church,  but  who  have  the  same  reli- 
gious aspirations  as  the  most  orthodox  of  Christians. 
The  orthodox  have  been  all  too  ready  to  cast  into 
outer  darkness  every  type  of  unbeliever,  and  to  as- 
sume that  the  friendship  which  Unitarianism  bears 
to  unbelief  involves  it  in  the  same  catastrophe.  It 
is  the  liberal  Christian  who  succeeds  in  winning  back 
the  unbeliever,  not  perhaps  to  the  statements  of 
orthodoxy,  but,  what  is  better,  to  devotion  to  Jesus 
and  obedience  to  the  will  of  God, 

The  sentiments  expressed  by  many  skeptics  con- 
cerning the  Founder  of  Christianity  approximate 
the  point  of  view  held  by  liberal  religion,  and  this 
as  much  in  the  large  bodies  of  Christians  as  the 
smaller  bodies  of  Unitarians,  Universalists  and 
Friends,  Thomas  Jefferson,  Theodore  Parker,  Prof, 
John  Fiske  and  Dr.  Eucken  have  all  been  acknowl- 
edged as  skeptical,  and  yet  their  views  about  Christ 
are  these  commonly  spoken  of  as  Unitarian.  The 
particular  view  that  the  historicity  of  Jesus  is  not 
the  essential  thing  in  the  religious  life  goes  even  be- 
yong  the  view  of  many  Unitarians.  Unitarianism 
has  been  inclined  to  lay  stress  on  Jesus  as  a  man, 
and  of  course  as  a  real  man.  The  skeptics  whom  we 
have  cited  have  done  the  same.  Professor  George  B. 
Foster,  a  Baptist,  whom  we  have  just  referred  to, 
began  an  address  before  the  American  Congress  of 
Religious  Liberals  with  this  statement:     ''Scientific 


200      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

theology,  together  with  the  spirit  and  thought  of  our 
new  age  in  general,  has  succeeded  in  undermining 
the  ecclesiastical  dogma  of  the  trinity  and  of  the 
deity  of  Christ."  In  quoting  these  words  I  would 
place  the  emphasis  on  ''ecclesiastical  dogma",  for  in 
a  very  essential  way  these  doctrines  may  still  appeal 
to  the  reason. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Rainsford,  for  many  years  rector  of 
St.  George's  Episcopal  Church,  New  York,  has  lately 
written:  'The  world  is  not  tired  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Christianity  as  it  has  been  proclaimed  by  the 
orthodox  churches  can  no  longer  hope  to  win  a 
world-wide  influence.  .  .  .  Multitudes  feel  that 
the  real  Jesus  when  he  is  presented  to  men,  still 
draws  all  that  is  best  in  the  human  heart  to  Him- 
self, still  has  the  power,  as  no  other,  to  save  men. 
But  of  ecclesiasticism  our  age  is  sick." 

Professor  D.  C.  Macintosh,  a  Congregationalist, 
says:  "The  irrationalities  of  historic  Trinitarian- 
ism  must  be  removed,  but  its  vital  essence  must  be 
retained."  And  then  he  shows  how  "Christianity 
is  the  religion  of  the  regeneration  and  sanctification 
of  the  individual  and  of  society  through  the  indwell- 
ing presence  and  creative  activity  of  God  the  Heav- 
enly Father — ^the  Holy  Spirit,  whose  presence  and 
power  in  the  life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  made  him  the 
divine  Redeemer,  the  Son  and  Christ  of  God." 

Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke,  a  Presbyterian  divine,  now 
American  Minister  to  the  Netherlands,  refers  to 
"the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  human  life  of 
God,"  and  he  adds:  "This  newness  of  the  gospel 
lies  in  believing  in  Him  as  a  real  man,  in  whose  son- 
ship  the  Fatherhood  of  God  is  revealed  and  made 


Written  in  1915. 


SKEPTICISM.  201 

certain  to  all  men/'  He  presents  this  view  of  Christ 
in  his  very  helpful  book,  "The  Gospel  for  an  Age  of 
Doubt,"  that  many  doubts  may  be  dissolved,  and  he 
expresses  his  hope  that  "if  it  shows  one  seeker  after 
God  how  to  find  Him  in  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  the 
chief  purpose  of  the  book  will  be  accomplished." 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  of  the  Church  of  England, 
says  in  his  "Man  and  the  Universe" :  "The  Chris- 
tian God  is  revealed  as  the  incarnate  spirit  of  hu- 
manity, is  recognized  as  a  real  intrinsic  part  of  God. 
.  .  .  Infinitely  patient  the  Universe  has  been 
whilst  man  has  groped  his  way  to  this  truth ;  so  sim- 
ple and  consoling  in  one  of  its  aspects,  so  inconceiv- 
able and  incredible  in  another.  Dimly  and  partially 
it  has  been  seen  by  all  the  prophets,  and  doubtless 
by  many  of  the  pagan  saints.  It  is  not  likely  to  be 
the  attribute  of  any  one  religion  alone;  it  may  be 
the  essence  of  truth  in  all  terrestrial  religions,  but  it 
is  conspicuously  Christian." 

And  so,  too,  does  the  essayist  and  poet,  Richard 
Watson  Gilder  sing  us  the  message  of  Christ's  spirit- 
ual leadership  to  a  world  of  sorrow,  doubt  and 
strife : 

Behold  Him  now  where  He  comes; 
Not  the  Christ  of  our  subtle  creeds. 
But  the  light  of  our  hearts,  of  homes, 
Of  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  needs ; 
The  brother  of  want  and  blame. 
The  lover  of  women  and  men. 
With  a  love  that  puts  to  shame 
All  passions  of  mortal  ken." 


CHAPTER  IX 

CONCORD  AMONGST  RELIGIONS  AND  UNITY 
OF  THE  TRUTH 

There  are  four  central  words  in  the  topic  to  be 
discussed,  namely  Religion,  with  which  is  linked 
Concord,  and  Truth,  with  which  is  linked  Unity. 
The  conclusions  formed  are  based  in  part  on  the 
discussions  already  given  in  the  special  course  under 
the  Billings  Lectureship,  and  in  part  on  the  various 
addresses  which  have  been  given  from  week  to  week 
for  the  last  few  years  by  representatives  of  nearly 
all  the  great  Religions.  For  six  years  this  Institute 
has  had  a  perpetual  Congress  of  Religions,  and  the 
ideas  now  advanced  are  not  of  sudden  growth,  but 
have  been  gradually  moulded  into  shape.  Even  now 
our  mind  is  not  altogether  clear  as  to  the  precise 
meaning  to  be  given  to  certain  terms  and  ideas,  and 
the  relation  of  these  ideas  to  each  other.  We  are, 
therefore,  unable  to  speak  in  a  dogmatic  spirit, 
which  is  perhaps  of  advantage  in  a  proper  and  use- 
ful consideration  of  such  vast  concepts  as  Religion, 
Truth,  Concord  and  Unity. 

In  the  previous  and  preliminary  discussions  of 
this  series,  we  have  given  a  Christian's  appreciation 
of  Confucianism,  Taoism,  and  Buddhism,  the  three 
Religions  of  China,  and  of  Islam  and  Judaism,  or 
rather  of  the  Jew,  as  an  intensely  persistent  person 
in  history.     We  have  also  had  three  special  studies 

202 


UNITY   OF   THE   TRUTH.  203 

within  the  Christian  Religion,  namely,  a  Protes- 
tant's appreciation  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  Trin- 
itarian's appreciation  of  the  Unitarian,  and  various 
Skeptics'  appreciation  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  addition 
there  have  been  two  complementary  studies  of  the 
inter-relations  of  nations,  the  one  being  Christianity 
and  the  Great  War,  and  the  other  Religion  and  In- 
ternational Brotherhood.  Properly  other  religions 
like  Brahmanism  and  Zoroastrianism,  and  the  reli- 
gions of  Greece,  Rome,  and  Egypt,  should  be  studied 
in  any  complete  consideration  of  universal  concord 
and  unity.  Acknowledging  this  limitation  to  our 
study,  we  yet  trust  that  the  datum  is  sufficient  for 
forming  fairly  reasonable  deductions.  We  have  one 
advantage  over  the  usual  comparative  study  of  Re= 
ligions,  in  that,  besides  this  study,  we  have  noted 
the  great  dividing  distinctions  within  the  Christian 
Religion,  as  well  as  the  relations  of  one  nation  to 
another  and  their  attitude  to  religion  in  general  and 
Christianity  in  particular.  The  possibilities  of 
either  concord  or  unity  are  measured  by  these  spe- 
cial studies  bearing  on  Christianity  apart  from  the 
specific  inter-relations  of  all  the  great  Religions  of 
the  world.  Thus  a  Christian  may  be  convinced  that 
other  Religions  will  disappear  before  the  advancing 
power  of  the  Christian  Religion,  which  thereby  be- 
comes the  Universal  and  Absolute  Religion ;  but  it  is 
as  easy  to  be  convinced  that  all  Christians  will  adopt 
one  form  of  the  Christian  Religion  be  it  called  Ro- 
man Catholic  or  Protestant,  Trinitarian  or  Unitar- 
ian? Is  even  Christian  unity  or  Church  union  likely 
to  take  place?  Where,  in  a  word,  is  unity  to  be 
found?    Should  vnity  be  unattainable,  is  it  yet  pos- 


204      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

sible  to  bring  about  harmony — harmony  amongst  all 
peoples  and  all  Faiths? 

Our  method  of  approach  to  the  religious  views  of 
others  has  been  that  of  appreciation  rather  than  of 
depreciation,  of  commendation  rather  than  of  con- 
demnation. For  a  comprehensive  or  accurate  un- 
derstanding of  any  religious  system  this  method  is 
manifestly  insufficient,  but  as  a  means  for  cultivat- 
ing the  spirit  of  either  unity  or  harmony,  there  is, 
in  our  judgement,  no  better  method  within  human 
reach.  "If  you  can't  say  anything  good  of  another, 
say  nothing,"  is  a  common  saying  in  the  formation 
of  human  friendships.  This  rule  we  make  applica- 
ble to  a  discussion  of  each  other's  religion.  Speak 
not  evil,  but  only  speak  good,  of  a  man's  religious 
convictions,  of  his  beliefs,  and  aspirations,  and  still 
more  of  the  distinguished  spiritual  leaders,  who 
have  succeeded  in  establishing  the  great  Religions. 
"Thinketh  no  evil,"  is  a  part  of  the  supreme  virtue 
of  charity.  If  one  thinks  no  evil  of  another,  he  will 
speak  no  evil.  An  old  Buddhist  maxim  reads: 
"Honour  your  own  faith,  but  do  not  look  with  con- 
tempt upon  the  faith  of  others."  The  Bahai  move- 
ment, which  seeks  for  spiritual  unity  among  all 
mankind,  in  injunction  to  the  Bahais,  whether 
Christians  or  Moslems,  says :  "They  should  neither 
denounce  nor  antagonize  those  holding  views  other 
than  their  own."  Emerson  said  tersely :  "Always 
put  the  best  interpretation  on  a  tenet."  This,  Rev. 
Ch.  W.  Wendte,  D.  D.,  who  has  done  so  much  to  pro- 
mote good  feeling  between  all  schools  of  religious 
thought,  in  referring  to  this  method  of  sympathy, 
says :    "This  is  a  better  way  to  bring  about  the  peace 


UNITY   OF  THE  TRUTH.  205 

of  the  world  than  battleships,  or  treaties,  or  em- 
bassies, or  presidential  letters,  and  it  will  eventually 
lead  the  peoples  of  the  earth  into  a  common  recog- 
nition of  those  fundamental  verities  of  faith  and 
conduct  which  underlie  all  the  great  world-religions 
and  are  the  universal  quest  of  humanity."  Dr. 
Richard  Storrs  in  his  ^'Divine  Origin  of  Christian- 
ity", whilst  convinced  of  the  superiority  of  Chris- 
tianity, has  used  these  words :  **No  thoughtful  per- 
son will  speak  without  tenderness  of  any  ancient 
religious  scheme,  which,  in  the  absence  of  ampler 
light,  has  drawn  to  itself  the  trust  and  hope  of  hu- 
man souls,  and  has  been  their  means,  however  im- 
perfect, for  ascending  to  nearer  intercourse  with 
God." 

In  all  these  years  of  religious  conferences  at  the 
International  Institute  by  adherents  of  different  re- 
ligious Faiths,  we  have  had  only  one  rule,  and  that, 
whilst  one  is  free  to  expound  fully  his  own  Faith, 
he  must  refrain  from  ridicule  or  denunciation  of  the 
Faith  of  others.  In  so  far  as  this  rule  has  been  ob- 
served has  harmony  prevailed.  As  another  has  said, 
''Appreciativeness  will  go  further  toward  a  desira- 
ble Church  unity  than  any  possible  doctrinal  agree- 
ment." It  certainly  is  more  assured  of  success  in 
bringing  about  harmony  and  friendliness,  mutual 
esteem  and  helpfulness,  between  those  who  think 
on  religious  matters  conscientiously,  and  hence  dif- 
ferently. 

''The  white  light  of  the  Truth  divine 
Is  broken  into  many  a  ray; 
'Lo  here!'     'Lo  here!'    the  preachers  say. 

And  brothers  prate  of  'mine'  and  'thine'. 


206       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

But  in  God's  sight  it  well  may  be 
That  all  in  one  may  interweave. 

Lord,  that  each  ray  leads  back  to  Thee 
I  do  believe/' 

In  referring  to  Religions,  we  refer  to  a  religious 
system  of  teaching,  which  in  the  conception  of  the 
Chinese  means  more  an  organization  than  a  senti- 
ment of  the  soul.  Permeating  all  these  religious 
systems  is  however  the  religious  sentiment.  Am- 
brose used  the  phrase,  now  quite  current,  "Religions 
are  many,  but  religion  is  one."  In  the  Chinese  lan- 
guage the  idea  of  Religion  as  a  teaching  is  familiar, 
but  not  of  Religion  in  the  abstract.  Reference  to 
that  which  is  inherent  in  all  is  indicated  by  two 
Chinese  words  translated  ''Law  and  Virtue"  or 
'Truth  and  Goodness",  for  in  them  is  contained  all 
that  is  good  and  true  in  relation  both  to  God  and 
man.  If  one  word  is  used  as  indicating  this  uni- 
versal, pervasive  element  that  word  is  truth.  Hence 
from  the  Chinese  conception,  a  Religion  is  the  for- 
mal expression  of  truth,  as  truth  is  the  expression 
of  God  or  of  God's  will.  To  look  for  unity,  we  can- 
not find  it  in  Religion  but  in  truth,  and  truth  is 
unified  in  the  one  God.  Religion  comes  from  truth 
or  an  eternal  Principle  of  Law,  and  this  comes  from 
Heaven  or  God.  In  so  far  as  all  Religions  and  all 
truth  are  traced  back  to  God,  and  in  so  far  as  all 
men  yield  themselves  to  Him,  is  unity  made  possible 
in  religion,  in  truth,  and  in  the  human  race.  Hence 
it  is  that  we  have  made  as  our  subject  concord 
amongst  Religions,  but  unity  of  the  truth.  Hence 
it  is  that  it  means  more  to  follow  the  truth  than  to 
follow  a  Religion,  and  more  to  follow  God  to  follow 


IINIT^'   OF   THE   TRUTH,  207 

the  truth.  Mankind  may  never  be  able  to  unite  in 
a  system  of  Religion,  whose  teachings,  rites,  formu- 
laries and  tenets  fall  within  the  grasp  of  all  men's 
belief,  but  it  does  seem  possible  for  mankind  to  unite 
in  devotion  to  the  truth.  Should  devotion  to  the 
truth  fail  to  unite  men,  on  account  of  difference  in 
understanding  the  truth,  then  the  only  way  to  unite 
all  men  in  their  religious  make-up  is  for  all  to  agree 
to  do  the  will  of  God,  as  each  one  understands  God 
and  the  will  of  God.  On  this  all  Religions  agree  and 
in  this  agreement  the  adherents  of  all  Religions  can 
unite.  To  proclaim  God  or  to  proclaim  the  truth 
should  mean  more  than  to  proclaim  a  Religion. 

The  teaching  of  all  the  great  Faiths  agrees  in 
tracing  all  truth  back  to  God,  and  in  requiring  that 
all  submit  to  God.  Submission  to  God  is  the  essen- 
tial meaning  of  the  term  Islam.  It  is  the  supreme 
idea  of  Judaism.  It  was  the  main  purpose  of  Christ 
and  should  be  made  the  one  cardinal  doctrine  of  the 
Christian  Church,  belief  in  which  can  bring  about 
Christian  unity.    It  was  Tennyson  who  sang : 

"Our  little  systems  have  their  day, 
They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be; 
They  are  but  broken  lights  of  Thee, 

And  Thou,  0  Lord,  art  more  than  they." 

The  supremacy  of  God  comes  ahead  of  supremacy 
of  truth,  for  all  truth  comes  from  God.  The  suprem- 
acy of  truth  comes  ahead  of  any  Religion,  any 
Church,  any  creed,  for  these  are  only  the  professed 
declarations  of  truth  as  understood  by  bodies  of  men. 
As  complete  comprehension  of  God  is  impossible, 
so  complete  apprehension  of  truth  is  impossible. 


208      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

Finite  beings  have  only  partial  revelations  of  God 
and  partial  comprehension  of  God's  truth.  Truth 
ever  appears  to  finite  minds  in  fragments.  No  one 
mind  is  capable  of  containing  all  the  truth  or  all  of 
the  Infinite.    ''Now  we  know  in  part." 

There  is  unity  in  truth  just  as  there  is  unity  in 
God,  but  there  cannot  be  unity  in  all  men's  under- 
standing of  truth.  There  is  with  men  only  unity  in 
the  one  purpose  to  follow  the  truth  as  each  one  sees 
it.  Man's  contact  with  truth  is  partly  through  the 
intellect  and  partly  through  the  conscience.  The  con- 
science is  the  mandatory  faculty  of  man.  Each  man 
feels  himself  under  compulsion  to  do  what  his  own 
conscience,  and  not  the  conscience  of  any  one  else, 
enjoins  upon  him,  and  the  quality  of  the  mandate 
depends  on  the  content  of  the  understanding,  on 
"the  deposit  of  faith".  Each  soul,  alike  illumined 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  is  answerable  alone  to  God. 
Truth  as  it  comes  from  God  is  one,  but  as  it  perco- 
lates through  human  brains,  it  becomes  diversified. 
''Every  good  and  perfect  gift  cometh  down  from 
the  Father  of  Lights,  with  whom  there  is  no  varia- 
bleness neither  shadow  of  turning."  So,  too,  the 
source  of  truth  is  not  in  any  Religion  or  in  any  hu- 
man mind,  but  in  the  mind  of  God.  Truth  from  the 
God-ward  side  stands  for  unity ;  from  the  man-ward 
side  it  stands  for  diversity,  but  withal  a  beautiful 
and  divine  diversity,  for  man's  desire  to  know  the 
truth  is  a  divine  quality,  the  breathing  forth  of 
God's  spirit. 

"Truth  is  truth,"  as  another  has  said,  "whether 
uttered  by  Sophocles  or  Plato  in  Athens,  by  Hillel 
or  Jesus  in   Palestine,  by  Seneca   or  Aurelius   at 


UNITY  OF  THE  TRUTH.  209 

Rome."  Truth,  too,  whether  in  sacred  books  or 
other  literature,  whether  in  holy  prophets  or  through 
ordinary  channels,  whether  in  science,  in  philosophy, 
in  history,  or  in  mysticism,  is  all  truth,  and,  what  is 
more,  it  is  one.  Professor  Philip  Schaff,  at  the  Chi- 
cago Parliament  of  Religion,  said :  "God  speaks  in 
history  and  science  as  well  as  in  the  Bible  and  the 
Church,  and  He  cannot  contradict  Himself.  Truth 
is  sovereign  and  must  and  will  prevail  over  all  igno- 
rance, error,  and  prejudice."  The  apparent  differ- 
ences in  truth  are  in  the  different  manifestations  of 
truth;  they  are  different  rays  of  the  one  light;  at 
times  they  are  different  colours  of  the  one  light. 
Let  us  admire  the  beauty  and  not  forget  the  unity. 
In  gratitude  and  great  joy  let  us  trace  the  truth  back 
to  Him  who  is  primal  Truth,  as  well  as  primal  Good- 
ness. 

It  was  Lessing  who  once  uttered  a  wise  and  very 
useful  saying:  "Were  God  to  offer  me  the  choice 
between  the  whole  truth  and  the  love  of  the  search 
for  it,  with  the  understanding  that  I  shall  never  find 
it,  I  would  choose  the  latter,  knowing  that  Truth  is 
for  God  alone."  There  is,  however,  this  confidence, 
that  the  more  one's  spirit  is  in  communion  with 
God's  most  Infinite  Spirit,  and  the  more  one  searches 
for  the  truth,  the  more  of  truth  will  he  be  able  to 
perceive,  and  the  more  of  vigour  of  soul  to  follow 
the  truth  wheresoever  it  leadeth.  It  remains  for  all 
those  who  in  every  land  and  in  all  times  search  for 
truth  and  are  more  and  more  finding  it,  to  share 
with  each  of  these  precious,  spiritual  possessions,  as 
loving  children  of  the  same  Father. 

Truth  is  not  a  point  or  even  a  straight  line.    It  is 


ino      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

rather  like  a  vast  globe.  One  phase  of  truth  blends 
with  another,  and  through  a  multitude  of  aspects  of 
truth  do  the  infinity  and  sovereignty  of  truth  reveal 
themselves.  Being  in  the  form  of  a  globe,  one  part 
of  truth  may  appear  at  antipodes  to  another  part. 
They  are  not,  however,  antagonistic,  for  a  more 
careful  review  shows  that  really  they,  too,  blend 
with  each  other  and  form  a  part  of  one  whole. 

To  finite  minds  truth  cannot  appear  in  all  its  com- 
pleteness or  comprehensiveness,  for  truth  in  its  to- 
tality is  infinite.  Each  one  sees  a  fragment  of  truth. 
This  fragmentary  character  of  one's  perception  of 
truth,  whilst  unavoidable,  becomes  error,  when  it  is 
represented  to  one's  own  consciousness  as  the  com- 
plete truth,  rather  than  the  fragmentary  truth.  The 
character  of  truth  as  opposed  to  error  is  to  hold  to 
the  due  proportion  of  each  form  and  fragment  of 
truth,  conscious  of  his  necessary  limitations,  is  hum- 
ble rather  than  proud,  tolerant  rather  than  bigoted, 
teachable  rather  than  dogmatic. 

The  unity  of  truth  and  the  universality  of  God's 
love  reveal  themselves  in  every  human  soul.  This 
is  the  essential  teaching  of  Christ  and  the  attractive- 
ness of  his  teaching.  It  is  the  thought  of  all  the 
great  religious  teachers  amongst  all  peoples.  There 
is  a  "Light  that  lighteth  every  man  coming  into  the 
world."  St.  Peter  said :  *'0f  a  truth  I  perceive  that 
God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  but  in  every  nation 
he  that  feareth  him  and  worketh  righteousness  is 
accepted  with  him."  St.  Paul  in  Athens  used  these 
words:  ''God  that  made  the  world  and  all  things 
therein,  He,  being  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  dwell- 
eth  not  in  temples  made  with  hands,  neither  is  He 


UNITY  OF  THE  TRUTH.  211 

served  by  men's  hands  as  though  He  needed  any- 
thing, seeing  He  himself  giveth  to  all  life  and  breath 
and  all  things;  and  He  made  of  one  blood  every 
nation  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth, 
having  determined  their  appointed  seasons  and  the 
bounds  of  their  habitation,  that  they  should  seek  the 
Lord,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after  Him  and  find 
him,  though  He  be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us,  for 
in  Him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being."  The 
great  Confucian  philosopher  of  the  Sung  dynasty, 
Chu  Fu  Tsze  expressed  the  truth  in  a  few  words: 
''All  nature  and  all  men  are  endowed  from  Heaven 
with  an  inner  Law,"  the  implication  being  that  truth 
is  imparted  to  all. 

Truth,  which  stands  for  unity  and  perfection,  as 
it  issues  forth  from  the  Spirit  of  God,  presents 
diversity  and  imperfection  as  shewn  forth  in  the 
spirit  of  man.  No  two  persons  see  truth  exactly 
alike.  It  is  the  good  fortune  of  humanity  that  here 
and  there  through  the  ages  God  has  raised  up  chosen 
men  of  pure  spirit  and  lofty  ideal  and  moral  earnest- 
ness, who  have  received  a  large  revelation  of  truth 
and  passed  it  on  to  others — the  spiritual  leaders  of 
humanity.  Such  men  are  the  founders  or  expound- 
ers of  the  great  Religions,  and  the  same  diversity, 
which  is  seen  in  men's  comprehension  of  truth,  is 
even  more  conspicuous  in  the  comparison  of  these 
Religions.  The  question  becomes  accute  as  to 
whether  the  Religions  of  the  world  can  attain  to 
unity,  or  whether  all  that  we  may  expect  is  harmony, 
friendliness,  concord,  between  these  various  Reli- 
gions. This  is  the  problem  more  difficult  than  that 
of  the  unity  of  the  truth.    As  we  pass  from  a  consid- 


212      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

eration  of  truth  to  that  of  Religion,  we  quote  the 
words  of  James  Russell  Lowell : 

"God  sends  His  teachers  unto  every  age, 

To  every  clime,  and  every  race  of  men. 

With  revelations  fitted  to  their  growth 

And  shape  of  mind,  nor  gives  the  realm  of  Truth 

Into  the  selfish  rule  of  one  sole  race : 

Therefore  each  form  of  worship  that  hath  swayed 

The  life  of  man,  and  given  it  to  grasp 

The  master-key  of  knowledge,  reverence. 

Enfolds  some  germs  of  goodness  and  of  right ; 

Else  never  had  the  eager  soul,  which  loathes 

The  slothful  down  of  pampered  ignorance, 

Found  in  it  even  a  moment's  fitful  rest." 

Having  considered  the  supremacy  of  Truth  and 
its  bearings  on  Unity,  it  is  now  possible  to  make  a 
logical  advance  to  a  consideration  of  the  World's 
great  Religions  and  their  bearings  on  Concord, 
should  unity  in  their  case  be  found  impossible.  The 
law  of  truth  should  be  made  the  law  governing  every 
Religion  and  the  principles  concerning  the  origin 
and  nature  and  effect  of  truth  should  be  applied  to 
these  Religions. 

If  all  truth  has  come  from  God,  the  one  Source  of 
all,  that  is,  in  both  the  material  and  spiritual  world, 
then  every  Religion,  which  is  a  wide-reaching  expo- 
nent of  truth,  must  be  traced  back  to  God,  to  whom 
be  all  the  glory.  Let  us  not  give  credit  to  the  Evil 
One  for  producing  and  inspiring  so  many  systems  of 
spiritual  aspiration.  Let  us  give  our  thanks  to  a 
loving  and  wise  God.  It  was  Clement  of  Alexandria 
who   in   the   early   Christian    Church    wrote   these 


UNITY  OF  THE  TRUTH.  213 

words  of  an  advanced  theology:  "It  is  clear  that 
the  same  God  to  whom  we  owe  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments, gave  also  to  the  Greeks  their  Greek  phi- 
losophy, by  which  the  Almighty  is  glorified  amongst 
the  Greeks.'^ 

If  truth  has  been  bestowed  on  all  men,  then  it  is 
only  reasonable  to  hold  that  all  Religions  and  their 
spiritual-minded  founders  have  also  been  the  depos- 
itors of  truth.  That  ordinary  men  in  our  own  day 
have  consciences  distinguishing  right  and  wrong, 
and  have  intuitively  as  well  as  by  tradition  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  truth,  but  that  men  like  Zoroaster,  Sa- 
kyamuni,  Confucius,  and  Muhammad  dwelt  in  the 
darkness  of  error  and  superstition,  and  that  the  Re- 
ligions which  they  developed  were  all  wrong  and 
must  perish  from  amongst  men,  is  far  from  the 
thought  of  non-Christian  thinkers,  even  if  here  and 
there  a  Christian  has  been  brave  enough  to  profess 
the  creed.  Prof.  Max  Miiller  rightly  says:  "We 
need  not  be  frightened  if  we  discover  traces  of  truth, 
traces  even  of  Christian  truth,  amongst  the  sages 
and  lawgivers  of  other  nations.  It  shows  a  want  of 
faith  in  God,  and  in  his  inscrutable  wisdom  in  the 
government  of  the  world,  if  we  think  we  ought  to 
condemn  all  ancient  forms  of  faith  except  the  reli- 
gion of  the  Jews.  .  .  .  If  we  want  to  understand 
the  religion  of  antiquity,  we  must  try,  as  well  as  we 
can,  to  enter  into  the  religious,  moral,  and  political 
atmosphere  of  the  ancient  world." 

Truth  that  enters  into  religion  is  the  highest  of 
all  truth;  religious  truth  is  more  natural  to  man, 
more  his  rightful  prerogative,  than  scientific  truth. 
The  latter  is  acquired;  the  former,  like  genius,  is 


214      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

born.  Professor  Upton  in  his  "Basis  of  Religious 
Belief"  says :  **It  follows  that  there  is  a  certain  self- 
revelation  of  the  Eternal  and  Infinite  One  to  the 
finite  soul,  and  therefore  an  indestructible  basis  for 
religious  ideas  and  religious  beliefs,  as  distinguished 
from  what  is  called  scientific  knowledge." 

Dr.  James  Freeman  Clarke,  who,  whilst  referring 
to  "the  heathen  religions",  yet  speaks  of  them  in  a 
respectful  spirit  in  his  "Ten  Great  Religions" : 
"They  must  contain  more  truth  than  error,  and  must 
have  been  on  the  whole,  useful  to  mankind.  We  do 
not  believe  that  they  originated  in  human  fraud,  that 
their  essence  is  superstition,  that  there  is  more  false- 
hood than  truth  in  their  doctrines,  that  their  moral 
tendency  is  mainly  injurious,  or  that  they  continu- 
ally degenerate  into  greater  evil." 

A  still  more  important  truth,  already  outlined  in 
these  lectures,  is  that  of  God's  presence.  If,  then, 
God  is  present  in  nature,  in  beauty,  in  history,  in 
philosophy,  in  science,  surely  we  must  agree  that  He 
is  present  in  man's  moral  and  religious  nature,  and 
still  more  in  the  moral  and  religious  reformers  and 
teachers  of  the  world,  and  in  the  teachings  which 
they  have  transmitted  to  coming  generations. 

"The  Unseen  Power,  whose  eye 
Forever  doth  accompany  mankind, 
Hath  looked  on  no  religion  scornfully 
That  man  did  ever  find." 

As  Dr.  Hunter  has  beautifully  expressed  it :  "We 
dare  not  pretend  to  limit  the  ways  by  which  He 
makes  known  His  personality  and  His  presence,  and 
moves,  illuminates,  and  guides  His  children.     He 


UNITY   OF   THE   TRUTH.  215 

draws  nigh  to  them,  not  only  in  and  through  His 
creation  and  the  course  of  history,  not  only  through 
the  teaching  and  example  of  His  great  prophets, 
holy  servants,  and  beloved  sons,  but  immediately, 
mind  with  mind,  spirit  with  spirit/'  This  thought 
elevates  humanity  and  the  Religions  of  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  world.  Because  of  God's  presence  Chris- 
tianity assumes  its  high  place  in  the  affections  and 
adoration  of  men,  and  other  Faiths,  the  fruitage  of 
God's  good  wisdom  in  caring  for  His  children, 
should  not  be  excluded  from  the  honour  of  men,  any 
more  than  they  are  excluded  from  the  favour  of  God. 

As  men  may  have  a  different  understanding  and 
interpretation  of  the  truth,  so  religious  truth  as 
taught  by  prophets  and  sages  in  the  great  Religions 
will  also  present  aspects  and  be  viewed  and  inter- 
preted by  them  in  different  ways.  Different  Reli- 
gions, and  especially  different  schools  of  thought 
within  the  same  Religion,  lay  emphasis  on  different 
phases  of  one  universal  truth  and  therein  the  world 
derives  a  benefit.  Looked  at  in  this  light,  these 
Religions,  like  individuals,  should  learn  from  each 
other.  The  truth  of  one  should  pass  on  to  others. 
Exclusiveness  should  disappear.  Surely  if  men  of 
the  East  and  the  West  can  be  teachers  to  each  other, 
their  teachings  ought  to  include  that  which  is  su- 
preme, man's  spiritual  relation  to  the  Unseen  but 
ever-present  spirit.  I  am  willing  to  learn  from 
other  faiths  and  I  sincerely  hope  that  they  in  turn 
may  receive  the  inspiration  and  vitality,  the  comfort 
and  peace,  which  Christian  truths  import. 

I  have  been  growing  impressed  with  two  facts  as 
to  the  way  God's  truth  has  gained  admission  to  hu- 


216      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

man  hearts  and  been  incorporated  in  the  religious 
Faiths  of  past  centuries  amongst  all  peoples.  The 
one  is  that  knowledge  of  spiritual  truth  is  in  propor- 
tion to  one's  observance  of  the  will  of  God,  however 
that  will  is  made  known.  Christ  stated  it  thus: 
"If  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the 
doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God."  The  second  fact 
is  that  the  best  of  any  Religion  is  found  in  the  origi- 
nal expounders  of  these  Religions,  men  who  had  a 
vision  of  the  Unseen,  whose  hearts  were  moved  by 
holy  impulse,  and  who  laboured  strenuously  for  the 
regeneration  of  society.  We  may  not  only  say, 
''Back  to  Christ",  but,  "Back  to  the  Buddha,  back  to 
Lao  Tsze,  back  to  Confucius  and  Mencius,  and  back 
to  the  holy  men,  who  had  gone  before."  When  we 
take  the  teachings  of  the  first  men  in  the  line  of 
spiritual  genealogy,  we  see  how  near  these  men  and 
their  thoughts  were  to  each  other.  It  is  here  that 
anything  like  approach  to  unity  amongst  the  Reli- 
gions can  be  found.  As  the  Christianity  of  Christ 
is  better  than  the  Christianity  of  any  Christian,  so 
the  Taoism  of  Lao  Tsze  is  better  than  the  Taoism  of 
any  Taoist.  The  original  sources  are  therefore  the 
best. 

In  speaking  of  truth  as  embodied  in  a  Religion, 
we  need  to  bear  in  mind  that  spiritual  truth,  being 
with  all  truth  the  breathing  forth  of  God's  spirit,  is 
of  different  quality  from  truth  elsewhere  in  the  uni- 
verse. A  man  may  be  versed  in  science,  and  yet  be 
blind  to  the  things  of  the  spirit.  The  Rev.  Henry  C. 
Minton  puts  the  matter  in  the  following  clear  lan- 
guage: "It  is  folly  to  try  to  weigh  truth  (i.  e., 
spiritual   truth)    in   an   apothecary's   scales   or  to 


UNITY   OF   THE  TRUTH.  217 

measure  it  with  a  carpenter's  rule.  It  would  hardly 
be  venturing  very  far  to  say  that  the  heart  has  not 
much  to  do  in  assenting  to  a  geometrical  theorem 
or  accepting  a  chemical  formula.  It  is  a  great  mis- 
take to  imagine  that  Christianity  is  any  less  rational 
because  its  teachings  are  not  mathematical  demon- 
strations." We  may  add  that  it  is  right  to  expect 
that  the  reason  must  be  satisfied  with  any  truth,  be- 
fore it  can  really  be  believed,  but  it  is  also  evident 
that  moral  qualities  have  a  profound  bearing  both 
on  reason's  grasp  of  the  truth  and  on  the  belief  that 
comes  after. 

In  tracing  back  the  best  of  any  Faith  to  its  origin, 
it  seems  as  if  we  were  running  contrary  to  the  law 
of  development.  Our  thought  is  that  any  particular 
Religion  will  find  it  hard  to  advance  beyond  the  su- 
preme personality,  who  started  the  Religion  on  its 
course,  but  religion  as  a  universal  factor  in  all  his- 
tory and  pervasive  of  every  form  of  Religion  is  sub- 
ject to  development  and  to  increase  in  the  apprecia- 
tion of  men.  We  know  more  today  of  God's  doings 
in  the  world  than  the  ancestors  of  our  Faith  knew ; 
it  is  not  so  certain  whether  we  are  better  than  they. 

Professor  Max  Muller,  speaking  of  the  good  old 
days,  what  we  in  China  are  wont  to  call  the  Golden 
Age  of  Yao  and  Shun,  says :  *'It  is  but  seldom  borne 
in  mind  that  without  constant  reformation,  i.  e., 
without  a  constant  return  to  its  fountain-head,  every 
religion,  even  the  most  perfect,  nay  the  most  perfect 
on  account  of  its  very  perfection,  more  even  than 
others,  suffers  from  its  contact  with  the  world,  as 
the  purest  air  suffers  from  the  mere  fact  of  its  being 
breathed.    The  founders  of  the  ancient  Religions  of 


218      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

the  world,  as  we  can  judge,  were  minds  of  a  high 
stamp,  full  of  noble  aspirations,  yearning  for  truth, 
devoted  to  the  welfare  of  their  neighbours,  examples 
of  purity  and  unselfishness.  .  .  .  If  we  find  that 
the  Christianity  of  the  nineteenth  century  does  not 
win  as  many  hearts  in  India  and  China  as  it  ought, 
let  us  remember  that  it  was  the  Christianity  of  the 
first  century  in  all  its  dogmatic  simplicity,  but  with 
its  overpowering  love  of  God  and  man,  that  con- 
quered the  world  and  superseded  religion  and  phi- 
losophies, more  diflflcult  to  conquer  than  the  religions 
and  philosophical  systems  of  Hindus  and  Buddhists." 

Along  with  this  reverence  for  God-given  leaders 
of  the  past,  there  certainly  exists  a  hope  for  better 
days  still  to  come  and  a  belief  in  the  principle  of 
progress.  Men  look  forward  to  an  Absolute  Religion 
to  dominate  humanity,  the  kingdom  of  God  in  its 
fulfilment.  Of  this  we  will  speak  more  later  on,  but 
meanwhile  quote  the  words  of  the  apostle  of  liberal- 
ism, Theodore  Parker,  from  his  ''Discourse  of  Reli- 
gions" :  "No  one  teacher,  or  form  of  Religion,  nor 
all  teachers  and  forms  put  together,  have  exhausted 
the  religious  sentiment,  which  is  the  groundwork 
and  standard  measure  of  them  all,  and  is  repre- 
sented more  or  less  partially  in  each;  and  so  new 
teachers  and  new  forms  of  Religion  are  always  pos- 
sible and  necessary,  until  a  form  is  discovered, 
which  embraces  all  the  facts  thereof,  and  thus  rep- 
resents the  Absolute  Religion,  as  it  is  implied  in  the 
facts  of  man's  nature  or  the  Ideas  of  God.  ...  Its 
temple  is  all  space;  its  shrine  the  good  heart;  its 
creed  all  truth ;  its  Ritual  works  of  love  and  utility ; 


UNITY   OF   THE   TRUTH.  219 

its  Profession  of  Faith  a  divine  life,  works  without, 
faith  within,  love  of  God  and  man." 

A  correct  measurement  of  each  Religion  must  take 
into  account  that  error,  even  if  absent  at  the  begin- 
ning, according  to  the  claim  of  each  Religion,  has 
since  crept  in  to  corrupt  and  dishonour  the  purity 
and  glory  of  the  past.  For  this  reason  we  recom- 
mend that  we  judge  each  Religion  not  only  by  its  best 
elements  but  by  the  noble  start  which  it  received. 
Thus  Professor  Max  Muller  adds  these  words  to 
what  we  have  already  quoted :  '*If  there  is  one  thing 
which  a  comparative  study  of  religions  places  in  the 
clearest  light,  it  is  the  inevitable  decay  to  which 
every  Religion  is  exposed." 

In  returning  to  the  utterances  of  the  specially- 
endowed  exponents  of  religious  truth  in  the  past, 
we  draw  near  to  the  fountain  of  life,  to  the  essence 
of  power.  In  things  essential  we  attain  both  to 
truth  and  to  unity.  Things  extraneous  and  things 
erroneous  drop  away  into  oblivion.  Christianity  as 
seen  today,  in  every  branch  of  the  Christian  Church, 
is  not  a  model,  an  ideal,  the  Absolute  or  the  Ulti- 
mate. And  thus,  too,  must  adherents  of  all  the 
Faiths  regretfully  acknowledge  that  today  at  least 
truth  is  mixed  with  error,  and  the  day  of  perfection 
has  not  yet  dawned.  Professor  Charles  Cuthbert 
Hall,  in  his  illuminating  lectures,  "Christ  and  the 
Eastern  Soul",  urges  in  many  ways  that  attention 
be  given  to  the  elements  of  ''imperishable  and  uni- 
versal essence"  which  Christianity  contains,  and  he 
adds:  "It  is  here,  and  only  here,  that  we  can  be 
said  to  enter  the  spiritual  temple  of  this  Faith. 
Ecclesiastical  systems,  forms  of  worship,  official  dis- 


220      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

tinctions,  are  occasional,  variable,  partial,  often 
transitory  modes  of  expression ;  inadequate  yet  nec- 
essary attempts  to  give  utterance  to  that  which  in 
its  completeness  transcends  utterance."  This 
thought  only  needs  to  go  beyond  the  sphere  of  the 
Christian  Religion  to  all  the  Religions,  that  we  may 
the  better  recognize  the  insufficiency  of  any  particu- 
lar Religion  and  the  sufficiency  of  the  underlying 
principles  of  all  Religions.  If  Christian  denomina- 
tions acknowledge  their  incompleteness,  then  the 
Christian  Religion  as  a  whole,  along  with  the  other 
religious  systems,  as  organized  and  exhibited  in  the 
world,  may  safely  confess  to  the  same  imperfection. 

Professor  George  William  Knox  finds  unity  and 
agreement,  not  so  much  in  the  "developed  contents", 
as  in  the  ''vague  and  primary  feeling",  belonging  to 
the  nature  of  man.  He  says:  ''Through  all  forms, 
henotheistic,  monotheistic,  pantheistic,  the  religious 
element  remains,  but  varies,  is  impoverished  or  en- 
riched, ennobled  or  debased  according  to  man's  stage 
of  culture  and  his  general  view  of  the  world." 

In  going  back  to  the  essence  of  religion  within  all 
Religions,  and  to  these  primary  feelings  of  the  hu- 
man soul,  we  approach  to  truth  which  already  we 
have  represented  as  a  sublime  unity. 

Neither  does  the  modern  scholar  speak  of  true 
and  false  Religion.  Even  so  great  a  man  as  Sir 
W.  Monier  Williams  has  described  Brahmanism, 
Buddhism,  and  Islam  as  the  "three  chief  false  reli- 
gions." Rather,  every  Religion  is  seen  to  possess 
the  truth,  and  truth,  moreover,  as  it  came  forth  from 
the  heart  of  Infinite  love. 

Neither  are  we  so  accustomed  as  men  in  the  past 


UNITY  OF  THE  TRUTH.  221 

to  speak  of  a  natural  and  a  revealed  Religion,  for 
every  Religion,  a  marvel  in  the  spiritual  sphere,  is 
not  the  product  of  man's  own  devising,  but  reveals 
to  a  greater  or  smaller  degree  the  mind  of  God.  Dr. 
Richard  Storrs  thus  says :  ''Christianity  is  but  one 
amongst  many  religions,  in  claiming  Divine  au- 
thorship for  itself,  with  a  co-relative  Divine  author- 
ity over  the  hearts  and  minds  which  it  reaches." 
No  religion  is  really  the  outcome  of  what  Dr.  Storrs 
calls,  ''the  native  religious  sentiment  of  man",  but 
God's  voice  speaks  through  these  Religions  as 
through  the  consciences  of  men. 

In  China  each  Religion  is  accustomed  to  speak  of 
itself  as  orthodox  and  of  others  as  heretical.  It  is 
not  for  Christianity  to  join  in  with  these  self -exalted 
claims,  but  rather  to  regard  the  way  of  the  Lord  as 
right,  and  human  ways  when  contrary  to  God's  way 
as  wrong. 

Others  have  distinguished  the  Religion  of  the 
Bible  and  of  all  others,  but  as  Professor  Henry  S. 
Nash  has  said,  "The  old  schemes  which  hinged  on  a 
fixed  distinction  between  the  Religion  of  the  Bible 
and  all  Religions  outside  the  pale  of  Biblical  revela- 
tion, succeeded  by  dint  of  excluding  a  large  part  of 
the  phenomena." 

Even  the  distinction  of  a  universal  religion,  as  is 
claimed  for  Christianity,  and  the  ethnic  religions,  is 
not  altogether  satisfactory,  for  as  yet  even  Chris- 
tianity has  not  gained  a  hold  on  all  races,  whilst  the 
adaptation  of  other  religions  to  particular  nations 
and  races  does  not  imply  that  their  truths  are  not 
suited  to  others.  Rather,  the  underlying  principles 
of  all  Religions,  that  which  forms  what  Professor 


222      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  calls  ''the  content  of  the  com- 
mon essence",  are  universal  in  their  application  and 
of  universal  obligation  to  be  observed.  In  ''Hiawa- 
tha", we  are  asked  to  listen  to  "this  Indian  Legend" : 

"Ye  whose  hearts  are  fresh  and  simple, 

Who  have  faith  in  God  and  Nature, 

Who  believe,  that  in  all  ages 

Every  human  heart  is  human, 

That  in  even  savage  bosoms 

There  are  longings,  yearnings,  strivings 

For  the  good  they  comprehend  not, 

That  the  feeble  hands  and  helpless. 

Groping  blindly  in  the  darkness. 

Touch  God's  right  hand  in  that  darkness 

And  are  lifted  up  and  strengthened." 

I  can  do  no  better  in  giving  expression  to  such 
views  on  Christianity  and  other  Religions  than  to 
quote  from  a  magnificent  sermon  of  Dr.  John  Hunter 
of  Glasgow  delivered  in  Boston  in  1907  before  the 
Fourth  International  Congress  of  Religious  Lib- 
erals.   I  quote  largely  as  follows : — 

"We  interpret,  and  rightly  interpret,  the  various 
religions  of  mankind  as  man  seeking  God ;  but  they 
may  also  be  regarded,  and  rightly  regarded,  as  God 
seeking  man.  'Unaided  reason',  men  have  been  in 
the  way  of  exclaiming,  as  they  contemplated  the 
various  religious  systems  of  the  world  outside  the 
Hebrew  and  the  Christian  religions.  But  we  may 
well  ask,  with  Cardinal  Newman,  whether  the  rea- 
son of  man  is  ever  unaided.  There  are  not  two 
kinds  of  religion,  natural  and  revealed.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  human  capacity  and  seeking  and 


UNITY   OF  THE  TRUTH.  223 

effort  all  religion  is  natural :  from  the  point  of  view 
of  divine  manifestation  all  religion  is  revealed.  The 
Logos  doctrine  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  v^hatever  else 
it  teaches,  teaches  the  divine  activity  in  our  world 
from  the  beginning.  It  would  be  an  error  to  suppose 
that  God  neglected  the  larger  part  of  mankind  be- 
cause of  His  more  intimate  dealings  with  one  sec- 
tion of  the  human  race.  It  must  be  true,  if  God  be 
one  and  His  name  one,  that  men  of  like  passions  and 
needs  as  ourselves,  who  came  from  God  and  belong 
to  God,  and  are  nourished  physically  by  His  air  and 
sunshine  and  fruits  of  the  earth,  must  also  have  pro- 
vision made  in  the  divine  order  of  things  for  the 
sustenance  of  their  spiritual  life,  and  that  it  is  not 
left  entirely  to  the  tender  mercies  of  their  fellows 
whether  they  shall  have  God  or  be  without  God  in 
the  world.  It  must  be  true  that  God  cares  equally 
for  the  souls  of  all  His  children,  and  that  He  finds 
access  to  them,  helps  them,  teaches  them,  comforts 
them,  saves  them,  by  methods  and  means  that  are 
not  seen  and  temporal,  and  by  ways  in  which  no 
man  can  tell  whence  He  cometh  and  whither  He 
goeth,  and  that  He  is  only  limited  in  the  giving  of 
Himself  to  them  by  their  capacity  to  respond  and 
receive.  People  of  old  used  to  think  that  the  divine 
action  was  confined  to  here  and  there,  now  and  then ; 
but  the  conviction  is  growing  and  spreading  that  the 
only  defensible  conception  of  the  moral  action  of 
God  on  humanity  is  that  of  a  continuous  and  impar- 
tial influence,  limited  to  no  age  or  race. 

"To  our  enlightened  feeling  it  is  becoming  more 
and  more  presumptions  to  say  that  His  spirit  can 
only  work  along  one  line  of  human  thought,  or  can 


224       A  christian's  appreciation  op  other  faiths. 

only  bring  men  to  Himself  through  one  set  of  de- 
fined successions  of  emotion  or  experience.  Per- 
sonal intimacy  with  God  is  not  an  experience  special 
to  Jews  or  Christians.  A  truer  and  larger  faith  in 
God  as  the  everlasting  Father  and  Teacher  and  Sav- 
iour of  Mankind  has  made  it  no  longer  possible  for 
intelligent  and  believing  men  to  regard  all  religions 
outside  the  Jewish  and  Christian  pale  as  superstition 
and  falsehood,  or  to  keep  up  the  old  pitying  and  con- 
descending attitude  towards  them.  Their  imma- 
turities and  corruptions  we  no  longer  allow  to  cheat 
us  of  the  right  to  say,  'God  is  good  to  all :  whither 
shall  we  go  from  His  spirit?'  He  has  never  left  Him- 
self without  a  witness,  never  left  multitudes  of  His 
creatures  without  His  help,  without  light  and  guid- 
ance, without  comfort  and  salvation. 

"There  is  no  want  of  revelation.  There  is,  in- 
deed, nothing  but  revelation.  From  the  beginning 
God  has  been  revealing  Himself  to  men  by  the  order 
and  beauty  and  bounty  of  the  world,  through  the 
natural  affections,  by  the  teaching  and  learning  of 
life  and  the  education  of  history.  Knowledge  of 
nature  and  man  is  knowledge  of  God.  In  finding 
order,  harmony,  bounty,  beauty,  truth,  wisdom,  jus- 
tice, goodness,  and  love,  God  is  found.  It  is  all  reve- 
lation from  nature  to  man  and  from  man  to  highest 
man." 

The  best  way  for  adherents  of  different  Religions 
to  appreciate  each  other,  as  a  matter  of  sober  sense 
and  not  mere  emotional  good-nature,  is  to  recognize 
the  points  of  agreement.  In  October  of  1912,  at  one 
of  our  largest  religious  conferences,  with  the  Taoist 
Pope  in  the  chair,  I  pointed  out  eight  fundamental 


UNITY  OP  THE  TRUTH.  225 

principles  common  to  all  the  great  Faiths.  These 
were  exhortation  to  do  right,  training  of  one's  own 
character  in  righteousness,  helping  others  to  do 
right,  recognition  of  a  Supreme  Being,  belief  in 
retribution,  belief  in  a  future  life,  in  some  cases  im- 
mortality, the  duty  of  repentance,  and  the  desire  for 
salvation.  To  these,  so  far  as  the  Religions  of  China 
are  concerned,  we  should  add  love,  as  the  greatest 
thing  in  the  world,  as  "the  bond  of  perfectness''. 
In  different  aspects  this  quality  of  love  is  made 
known  and  spoken  of  in  the  teachings  of  the  differ- 
ent Faiths.  In  Confucianism  it  is  fraternity,  in 
Buddhism  compassion,  in  Taoism  gentleness,  in 
Islam  charity,  and  in  Judaism  and  Christianity  it 
is  brotherly-kindness.  The  last  three  Rehgions, 
revering  the  same  patriarchs  and  prophets,  teach  the 
more  important  truth  of  God's  love,  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  mercy  and  sometimes  as  grace. 

The  appreciations  already  given  of  different  Reli- 
gions and  schools  of  thought  show  in  each  case  a  still 
wider  correspondence.  In  recognition  of  this  com- 
mon basis  of  all  Faiths — forms  of  infinite  truth — 
these  Faiths  are  able  to  arrive  at  unity.  Even  whilst 
there  is  not  one  Religion,  owing  to  minor  factors 
taking  the  place  of  primary  principles,  there  is  a 
oneness  in  the  religious  substratum  of  all  Religions. 

The  American  preacher,  the  Rev.  James  I.  Vance, 
cites  just  three  elements  to  the  common  essence  of 
religion,  speaking  in  the  following  language : 

"Views  of  religion  are  one  thing,  and  the  funda- 
mentals of  religion  are  another.  Views  come  and  go, 
but  the  fundamentals  are  essential  to  religious  exis- 
tence.   They  may  be  summed  up  in  three  statements 


226       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

— 1.  Belief  in  a  personal  God.  2.  Belief  in  a  con- 
scious immortality.  3.  The  effect  of  this  belief  on 
character  and  conduct.  These  constitute  the  essence 
of  religion.  They  are  not  the  affairs  of  an  epoch, 
nor  peculiar  to  any  stage  of  civilization.  They  are 
timeless  facts  and  invest  religion  with  an  everlast- 
ing reality." 

Unity  in  religion,  as  unity  amongst  all  the  Re- 
ligions, comes  through  emphasis  of  the  unities 
rather  than  of  the  differences.  Men  come  to  agree 
with  each  other,  when  they  think  of  the  points  of 
agreement  and  pass  by  the  points  of  disagree- 
ment. 

It  is  well,  however,  that  the  whole  world  is  not 
all  oneness  without  chance  for  variety.  If  the 
great  Religions  were  at  one  in  everything,  there 
would  be  uniformity,  which  is  only  unity  without 
vitality.  Only  that  much  of  agreement  is  needed 
which  can  attain  to  unity  without  destroying  the 
life.  If  Christian  sects  have  learned  that  each  is 
needed  in  the  fuller  manifestation  of  Christianity, 
then  we  may  go  one  step  further  and  acknowledge 
the  utility  of  every  Religion  in  the  fuller  manifesta- 
tion of  the  common  religious  sentiments  which  find 
their  centre  in  God.  The  blind  preacher  of  Scot- 
land, the  man  of  deep  devotion,  the  Rev.  George 
Matheson,  has  beautifully  expressed  the  thought 
in  the  following  poem : 

"Gather  us  in,  Thou  Love  that  fillest  all ! 
Gather  our  rival  faiths  within  Thy  fold! 
Rend  each  man's  temple  veil  and  bid  it  fall, 

That  we  may  know  that  Thou  hast  been  of  old; 

Gather  us  in ! 


UNITY   OF   THE  TRUTH.  227 

''Gather  us  in!  we  worship  only  Thee; 

In  varied  names  we  stretch  a  common  hand : 
In  diverse  forms  a  common  soul  we  see; 
In  many  ships  we  seek  one  spirit-land; 

Gather  us  in ! 
"Each  sees  one  colour  of  Thy  rainbow  light, 
Each  looks  upon  one  tint  and  calls  it  heaven; 
Thou  art  the  fullness  of  our  partial  sight; 
We  are  not  perfect  till  we  find  the  seven; 

Gather  us  in ! 
''Thine  is  the  mystic  light  great  India  craves, 
Thine  is  the  Parsee's  sin-destroying  beam, 
Thine  is  the  Buddhist's  rest  from  tossing  waves, 
Thine  is  the  empire  of  vast  China's  dream; 

Gather  us  in ! 
"Thine  is  the  Roman's  strength  without  his  pride, 
Thine  is  the  Greek's  glad  world  without  its 
graves, 
Thine  is  Judea's  law  with  love  beside. 

The  truth  that  centres  and  the  grace  that  saves ; 

Gather  us  in ! 
"Some  seek  a  Father  in  the  heavens  above, 
Some  ask  a  human  image  to  adore, 
Some  crave  a  spirit  vast  as  life  and  love: 

Within  Thy  mansions  we  shall  have  all  and  more ; 

Gather  us  in! 
This  poem  bears  the  title  "One  in  Christ,"  and 
his  biographer,  another  Scotch  Presbyterian,  adds: 
"It  was  his  aim  to  stand  on  a  platform  so  broad 
that  he  could  find  room  on  it  for  every  one,  whether 
Pagan  or  Christian,  who  was  struggling  towards 
the  light.     Such  a  method  does  not  lop  off  what 


228      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

may  seem  incongruous,  or  irreconcilable,  in  the  dif- 
ferent forms  of  Faith  which  it  unifies.  It,  on  the 
contrary,  gathers  them  together  as  they  are ;  and  the 
central  truth,  linked  to  Him  who  is  the  Truth,  of 
its  own  accord  sheds  what  is  defective,  and  re- 
ceives new  strength  and  life  from  Him  to  whom  it 
is  joined." 

The  open-minded  student  of  comparative  reli- 
gion will  be  quick  to  see  that  these  agreements  in 
religious  belief  and  aspiration,  in  life  and  duty, 
concern  the  very  essence  of  religion,  and  not  the 
phenomena,  still  less  the  excrescences,  of  religion. 
They  are  the  inner  light,  which  shines  forth  in  hu- 
man activities.  They  are  the  soul  of  truth  in  the 
outward  frame  of  mixed  good  and  evil.  They  are 
God's  life-giving  and  spiritual  energy  which  differ- 
entiates itself  into  the  vast  variety  of  finite  exist- 
ences. 

Agreements  are  fundamental,  not  superficial. 
They  touch  truth,  not  fancy.  They  are  eternal; 
they  are  universal.  Being  so,  they  are,  as  Professor 
Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  has  said,  in  his  ''Universal 
Elements  of  the  Christian  Religion,'*  "self-evidenc- 
ing." "They  rise  in  self-evidencing  authority  to 
command  the  homage  of  the  moral  reason,  as 
amongst  the  things  that  cannot  be  shaken."  The 
Christian  realizes  that,  whatever  be  his  particular 
branch  of  the  Christian  Church,  there  are  these 
fundamental  and  self-evidencing  elements  in  the 
Christian  faith,  "constituting  a  common  essence." 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  he  accepts  and  cherishes 
the  Faith  as  embodied  in  Christ.  It  is  for  the  same 
reason  that  he  and  others  should  equally  and  as 
readily  accept  and  cherish  the  "common  essence," 


UNITY   OF   THE  TRUTH.  229 

"the  self-evidencing  truth,"  which  all  Religions  pos- 
sess. A  truth  has  no  vitality,  if  one  accepts  it  on 
another's  authority,  but  fails  to  see  it  as  truth  in 
his  own  consciousness. 

It  is  just  as  important  that  we  recognize  that 
beyond  the  unities,  there  are  the  harmonies,  and  be- 
yond agreements  there  is  the  need  of  mutual  good- 
will. In  many  ways  the  teachings  of  all  Religions 
agree;  but  even  when  agreement  is  impossible,  and 
even  because  of  this  very  lack  of  agreement,  there  is 
scope  and  need  for  concord.  A  famous  saying  of 
Confucius  is:  "The  Princely  Man  wants  men  to 
be  in  harmony,  but  not  to  be  alike;  the  Small  Man 
wants  men  to  be  alike,  but  not  to  be  in  harmony." 
To  say,  as  is  often  said  in  China,  that  all  religions 
are  the  same,  is  just  as  wrong  as  to  say  that  they 
are  not  the  same.  They  are  all  alike  and  unlike. 
It  is  when  they  are  unlike  that  there  is  need  to 
cultivate  harmony.  Two  men,  very  much  unlike  in 
tastes  and  appearances,  may  yet  be  good  friends. 
So  the  great  Faiths  should  not  antagonize  each 
other,  but  befriend  each  other.  "The  good  of  God's 
purpose  is  not  a  discord  but  a  harmony." 

A  sentence  much  used  is  the  following:  "In  es- 
sentials unity,  in  non-essentials  liberty,  in  all  things 
charity."  This  is  generally  spoken  of  concerning 
the  many  branches  of  the  Christian  Church,  but  the 
rule  applies  just  as  well  to  the  inter-relations  of  all 
forms  of  religious  belief. 

Treaties  and  laws  speak  of  "religious  toleration," 
Better  than  toleration  are  sympathy  and  apprecia- 
tion, the  one  the  act  of  the  heart  and  the  other  of 
the  intellect.  The  two  are  akin  to  charity,  as  tolera- 
tion is  to  liberty,  and  as    points    of    agreement, 


230      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

which  concern  the  ''common  essence,"  are  akin  to 
unity.  Another  has  well  said:  Naturally,  we  love 
our  own  best:  we  believe  our  own  faith  to  be  the 
highest  possible,  or  we  should  not  hold  it  but  we 
must  be  appreciative  and  sympathetic  to  the  spirit- 
ual strivings  of  others  who  are  no  less  sincere  than 
we  endeavour  to  be."  With  such  a  spirit  mutual 
recriminations,  slurs,  odium  theologicum,  polemical 
bitterness,  all  the  wranglings  of  divinity  schools, 
and  the  many  kinds  of  ecclesiastical  differentia- 
tions, melt  away  under  the  radiance  of  a  broad  char- 
ity, "rejoicing  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoicing  in  the 
truth." 

The  way  to  agree  is  to  agree,  but  suppose  real 
agreement  is  impossible!  Then  comes  in  the  hard- 
er task  of  cultivating  charity  and  concord.  Har- 
mony is  just  as  easy  of  cultivation  as  any  of  the 
graces,  and  just  as  easy  in  religion  as  in  music — or 
perhaps  we  should  say,  just  as  difficult. 

The  first  way  to  bring  the  adherents  of  different 
Faiths  near  to  each  other  in  true  sympathy  and 
beautiful  accord  is  to  keep  always  before  the  mind 
how  great  is  the  agreement  and  unity  in  all  the 
elements  of  an  imperishable  and  universal  essence 
comprised  in  all  Religions. 

A  second  way  to  bring  about  harmony  is  to  real- 
ize that,  whatever  the  difference  of  intellectual  con- 
ception of  truth  or  of  its  interpretation,  others  as 
well  as  ourselves  are  sincere  in  the  purpose  to  do 
the  right  and  commit  one's  self  to  the  sway  of  the 
truth.  Persons  who  are  honest  and  sincere  can  be 
good  friends,  though  of  different  Faiths.  To  be 
sincere  is  to  be  true  and  this  is  the  basis  of  human 


UNITY   OF   THE  TRUTH.  231 

friendship:  thus  the  Chinese  teach.  Dr.  George 
Matheson  in  his  great  work  *The  Distinctive  Mess- 
ages of  the  Old  Religions,"  declares  that  the  right 
attitude  of  Christians  to  other  Faiths  is  that  of  re- 
conciliation. Speaking  of  the  mission  of  Christian- 
ity he  says :  ''She  has  not  sought  to  derogate  from 
the  doctrines  of  antiquity;  she  has  only  sought  to 
diminish  their  antagonisms.  China  may  keep  her 
materialism,  and  India  may  retain  her  mysticism; 
Rome  may  grasp  her  strength,  and  Greece  may 
nurse  her  beauty;  Persia  may  tell  of  the  opposi- 
tion to  God's  power,  and  Egypt  may  sing  of  His 
pre-eminence  even  amidst  the  tombs;  but  for  each 
and  all  there  is  a  seat  in  the  Christian  Pantheon, 
and  a  justification  in  the  light  of  the  manifold  wis- 
dom of  God." 

St.  Peter  used  these  remarkable  words,  'Te  have 
purified  your  souls  in  obeying  the  truth,"  and  Dr. 
Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  referring  to  this  great 
thought  correctly  says:  ''So  long  as  religious  con- 
ceptions are  held  or  preached  with  a  view  to  main- 
taining orthodoxy,  the  anxiety  to  receive  official 
sanction  may  gradually  undermine  intellectual  and 
moral  sincerity,  and  must  surely  destroy  the  vivac- 
ity and  courage  that  are  brought  to  the  soul  by  its 
commitment  to  truth  that  has  been  investigated  at 
first  hand  and  certified  by  direct  experience." 

In  the  third  place,  all  humanity  can  draw  near 
to  each  other  in  friendly  accord,  if  they  but  realize 
the  wide  prevalence  of  the  upward  look,  the  instinct 
after  God.  A  distinguished  scholar  of  India  has 
said :  "Religious  life  is  only  possible  when  one  gets 
to  the  centre  of  life,  which  is  God  Himself."    This 


232      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

drawing  nigh  to  God,  this  feeling  after  God,  is  the 
quality  of  the  soul  that  attracts  others  to  itself. 
We  should  be  very  sympathetic,  when  we  see  in  oth- 
ers a  response  to  the  cry  of  one*s  own  soul.  Men^s 
emotions,  more  than  men's  keenness  of  intellect, 
men's  desires  and  aspirations,  what  we  call  senti- 
ment, hard  to  define  and  incapable  of  being  bound 
in  anything  iron-clad, — these  are  really  the  essen- 
tial constant  of  all  forms  of  religious  worship. 
They  are  not  the  exclusive  and  distinctive  mark  of 
any  one  Religion,  but  they  belong  to  all  Religions. 
There  is  here  more  than  affinity  of  belief  or  opinion ; 
there  is  kinship  of  feeling.  The  heart,  moved  upon 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  accomplishes  where  the  brain 
fails,  in  cementing  human  friendships,  in  furthering 
universal  brotherhood,  and  in  bringing  humanity 
into  atonement  with  God.  It  was  Tertullian  who 
said :  "Testimonies  of  the  soul  to  God  are  as  true 
as  they  are  simple,  as  simple  as  they  are  universal, 
as  universal  as  they  are  natural,  as  natural  as  they 
are  divine."  It  was  Archbishop  Tillotson  who 
stated  the  truth  thus :  "God  hath  wrought  the  im- 
age of  himself  upon  the  mind  of  men,  and  so  woven 
it  into  the  very  frame  of  his  being,  that,  like  Phid- 
ias' picture  in  Minerva's  shield,  it  can  never  totally 
be  defaced,  without  the  ruin  of  human  nature." 

My  own  father  in  "Voices  of  the  Soul  Answered 
in  God,"  uses  the  following  language:  "Man  can- 
not be  understood  without  God.  Possibly  God  can- 
not be  understood  without  man.  When  God  made 
the  soul,  he  made  it  to  turn  instinctively  toward 
himself.  Hence  all  created  spirits  are  so  many  dis- 
tinct prayers,  and  God  is  their  answer." 


UNITY  OF  THE  TRUTH.  233 

A  fourth  bond  of  fellowship,  in  fact  a  bond  of 
union,  is  in  the  determination  to  do  the  will  of  God. 
This  is  more  than  to  follow  the  truth.  Christ  made 
this  the  chief  aim  of  his  life  and  enjoined  on  his 
disciples  to  do  the  same.  "I  promised  to  do  what- 
ever God  requireth  of  me,  trusting  in  His  promised 
grace  to  help  me."  This  is  a  creed  not  only  for  the 
Christian  but  for  all  men.  He  who  declares  this 
creed  should  be  given  the  hand  of  Christian  fel- 
lowship. 

In  the  fifth  place,  he  who  knows  of  Christ  and  is 
willing  to  follow  Him,  and  he  knows  not  Christ,  but 
is  heeding  the  Universal  Logos  of  God,  should  also 
be  received  as  brother  and  friend.  "Follow  me,*' 
was  Christ's  command,  and  Christ  did  not  measure 
the  devotion  of  His  followers  by  any  intellectual  ap- 
prehension of  his  nature  or  of  his  mysterious  rela- 
tion to  God.  To  be  able  to  give  a  definition  of  Christ, 
acceptable  to  the  rigidly  orthodox,  is  not  so  great 
an  achievement  in  religion  as  to  secure  an  imita- 
tion of  Christ,  the  goal  for  all,  about  which  no  dis- 
pute need  arise. 

Amongst  the  Church  Fathers,  Justin  Martyr  in 
his  "Apology"  refers  specially  to  the  teachings  of 
the  Logos,  "of  which  mankind  are  all  partakers," 
and  then  adds :  "They  who  have  made  or  make  the 
Logos  the  rule  of  their  actions  are  Christians." 
Again  quoting  from  Dr.  Hall,  we  have  these  words 
as  to  the  thought  of  Christ  in  Christianizing  the 
world :  "It  means  to  make  disciples  for  Him  of  all 
the  nations — not  disciples  of  the  Church,  converts 
to  certain  schools  of  theological  opinion." 

In  the  sixth  place,  there  is  both  union  and  con- 


234       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

cord  amongst  all  who,  in  any  land  or  in  any  Faith, 
are  cultivating  the  religious  spirit.  I  have  often  felt 
in  China  more  drawn  to  some  quiet,  spiritual-mind- 
ed Taoist  than  to  the  cold  dogmatism  of  some  of  the 
Christian  brethern.  The  religious  spirit  means  far 
more  than  religious  doctrines.  Universal  religion, 
i.  e.  the  universal  religious  sentiment,  is  not  so  much 
theological  as  biological.  Religion  is  a  matter  of 
life  rather  than  of  logic.  Dr.  Minton,  speaking  of 
Christianity,  as  I  would  speak  of  religion  in  general, 
says :  "It  is  not  a  system  of  truth  only.  Theology 
is  not  all  of  Christianity,  any  more  than  anatomy  is 
all  of  physiology." 

President  Frederick  W.  Hamilton  concisely  ex- 
presses it  thus:  ''Religion  as  a  sentiment  and  an 
emotion  is  the  fundamental  constant  belonging  to 
all  forms  of  Religion.  It  is  essentially  the  same 
everywhere."  Dr.  William  E.  Channing,  thinking 
of  these  harmonies  of  which  we  have  made  mention, 
has  said :  "Inward  sanctity,  pure  love,  disinterested 
attachment  to  God  and  man,  obedience  of  heart  and 
life,  sincere  excellence  of  character,  this  is  the  one 
thing  needful,  this  is  the  essential  thing  in  religion." 

In  the  seventh  place,  all  who  lay  stress  on  a  good 
life  should  be  able  to  co-operate  harmoniously  for 
the  uplift  of  humanity.  The  New  Testament, 
which  never  makes  mention  of  Religion  as  we  are 
accustomed  to  use  it,  in  meaning  a  system  of  re- 
ligious truth,  tells  us  through  the  Apostle  James 
what  was  understood  by  the  term  "religion"  in 
those  days:  "Pure  religion  and  undefiled  before 
God  and  the  Father  is  this:  to  visit  the  fatherless 
and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep  himself 


UNITY   OF  THE   TRUTH.  235 

unspotted  from  the  world."  According  to  this,  re- 
ligion, which  is  the  substratum  or  essence  of  each  of 
the  Religions,  means  kindness  or  compassion,  and 
purity  or  singleness  of  religious  aim. 

Every  Religion  has  good  right  to  magnify  its 
early  teachers  and  teachings,  but  in  the  end  they 
will  be  judged  by  their  ability  to  make  good  men 
and  women  today.  This  unity  of  aim  is  always 
and  everywhere  one  of  the  harmonies  in  religion. 
It  was  Dr.  Illingworth  who  wrote :  ''The  Christian 
Religion  is  one  phenomenon,  a  totality,  a  whole,  of 
which  the  New  Testament  is  only  a  part.  We  of 
today  are  in  actual  contact  with  a  living  Christian- 
ity which  has  persisted  through  nineteen  centuries 
of  chance  and  change."  In  fact,  men  give  approval 
to  the  Church,  the  Religion,  the  priest,  who  actually 
succeeds  in  transforming  society.  The  mere  claim 
that  one's  Religion  is  divine  in  origin,  or  the  great- 
er claim  that  it  is  exclusively  so,  will  not  avail  with 
practical  men  the  world  over.  Dr.  James  Freeman 
Clarke,  speaking  of  other  Religions,  and  not  so  much 
of  Christianity,  says :  "Unless  they  contained  more 
of  good  than  evil,  they  could  not  have  kept  their 
place."  This  persistency  of  the  world's  great  Re- 
ligions forbids  us  from  a  sweeping  condemnation  of 
other  teachers  in  religious  problems.  At  the  same 
time  the  duty  to  live  a  good  life  warns  all.  Christian 
as  much  as  non-Christian,  and  non-Christian  as 
much  as  Christian,  that  by  decline  in  goodness  the 
Religion  in  which  one  believes  is  destined  to  de- 
struction and  cannot  by  any  possibility  hope  for 
universal  spiritual  conquest,  ''I  have  a  settled 
faith,"  said  Dr.  Hall  to  his  Indian  audience,  '*that 


236      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

whatever  is  true  and  essential  to  the  fullness  of 
truth  must  forever  abide  under  whatever  name  or 
Religion  it  has  come  into  being,  and  whatever  is  not 
essential  to  the  truth  will,  in  the  end,  when  it  has 
done  its  work,  be  permitted  to  withdraw  and  pass 
away." 

These  seven  elements  of  religious  harmony  are 
so  near  to  unity,  to  agreement,  that  it  is  perhaps 
hard  to  distinguish  unity  of  the  truth  from  mere 
concord  amongst  all  the  Religions.  Certainly  as 
concord  amongst  the  different  Religions  expands, 
it  is  gradually  transformed  into  the  unity  of  the 
truth.  "In  essentials  unity",  still  remains  the  law 
of  the  universe.  Points  of  agreement  and  elements 
of  harmony  within  all  the  Religions  are  concerned 
with  essential  truths,  and,  so  far,  stand  for  unity — 
unity  in  religion — because  a  unity  of  the  truth.  In 
the  words  of  Professor  Max  Miiller,  "To  those,  no 
doubt,  who  value  the  tenets  of  their  Religion  as 
the  miser  values  his  pearls  and  precious  stones, 
thinking  their  value  lessened  if  pearls  and  stones  of 
the  same  kind  are  found  in  other  parts  of  the  world, 
the  Science  of  Religion  will  bring  many  a  rude 
shock;  but  to  the  true  believer,  truth,  wherever  it 
appears,  is  welcome,  nor  will  any  doctrine  seem  the 
less  true  or  the  less  precious,  because  it  was  seen, 
not  only  by  Moses  and  Christ,  but  likewise  by  Budd- 
ha or  Lao  Tsze." 

We  thus  reach  the  point  that  religious  unity  as 
unity  of  the  truth — in  other  words,  unity  in  essen- 
tial truths — is  to  be  sought  for,  as  something  pos- 
sible, but  that  anything  more  than  concord  between 
great  religious  systems  and  their  various  adherents 


UNITY  OF  THE  TRUTH.  237 

is  probably  never  to  be  expected.  Whilst  Christian 
unity,  for  example,  is  to  be  our  hope  and  prayer — 
a  unity  in  the  underlying  truths  of  Christianity,  is 
it  at  all  likely  that  the  different  branches  of  the 
Christian  Church — what  others  regard  as  different 
forms  of  the  Christian  Religion — will  ever  unite  in 
one  system,  one  Church,  one  Religion?  How,  then, 
can  the  Christian  Religion,  thus  viewed  as  a  sys- 
tem of  teaching  and  an  organization,  just  as  we  view 
the  other  Religions,  ever  become  the  Universal  Re- 
ligion or  be  classed  as  the  Absolute  Religion?  To 
be  sure,  if  by  the  Christian  Religion  we  mean  only 
the  inner  soul  of  Religion,  the  vital  and  imperish- 
able truths  enunciated  by  Christ  and  lived  out  in 
His  life,  then  we  may  hope  that  for  Christianity 
there  will  come  both  unity  and  universality  and 
that  Christian  Truth  will  finally  prevail.  We  may 
also  hope  that  the  fundamental  truths  of  all  the 
Religions,  truths  emanating,  as  we  have  argued, 
from  the  one  God,  will  likewise  attain  to  unity  of 
belief  and  universality  of  domination.  But  this  is 
something  very  different  from  claiming  for  any 
outward  form  of  Religion,  i.  e.  for  any  particular 
Religion  (religion  with  a  capital  R.)  ultimate  uni- 
versality. Truth  is  absolute,  imperishable,  and  may 
become  in  humanity,  as  already  in  God,  one  and 
universal;  the  truths  contained  within  all  the  Re- 
ligions, whether  the  Christian  Religion  or  not,  may 
be  viewed  in  exactly  the  same  way  and  attain  to  the 
same  result.  Thus  there  is  exclusiveness  for  truth, 
or,  we  may  say,  for  religion,  if  by  this  is  meant  the 
common  religious  sentiment,  but  not  for  any  par- 
ticular Religion.     ''Religion,"  says  Professor  Euc- 


238      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

ken,  "will  surely  come  to  new  ascendancy, — but  the 
return  to  religion  by  no  means  signifies  a  return  to 
the  old  forms  of  religion."  The  Christian  may  well 
cherish  the  thought  that  Christ  is  the  Truth,  but 
even  Christ  never  taught  that  all  others  had  no 
truth.    He  never  limited  truth  to  Himself  alone. 

As  within  the  Christian  Religion  there  is  a  place 
for  different  communions  or  sects,  which  should 
never  degenerate  into  sectarian  bigotry  and  discord, 
but  should  work  lovingly  and  harmoniously  togeth- 
er, so  in  the  larger  sense,  and  with  just  as  much 
reason,  the  various  divisions  of  the  universal  re- 
ligious sentiment  should  avoid  wrangling,  rivalry, 
and  persecution,  and  should  combine  in  the  spirit 
of  harmony,  in  the  characteristic  of  charity,  and  in 
the  bonds  of  peace. 

It  was  the  spiritual  thinker  of  India,  Keshub 
Chunder  Sen,  who  expressed  this  hope :  'The  time 
is  coming  when  the  more  liberal  of  the  Catholic  and 
Protestant  branches  of  Christ's  Church  will  ad- 
vance and  meet  upon  a  common  platform  and  form 
a  broad  Christian  community  in  which  all  shall  be 
identified,  in  spite  of  all  diversities  and  differences 
in  non-essential  matters  of  faith.  So  shall  the  Bap- 
tists and  Methodists,  Trinitarian  and  Unitarian,  the 
Ritualist  and  Evangelical,  all  unite  in  a  broad  and 
unversal  religious  organization,  loving,  honouring, 
serving  the  common  body,  whilst  retaining  the 
peculiarities  of  each  sect." 

With  the  growth  of  harmony  amongst  the  many 
Christian  communions,  these  communions  become 
more  and  more  synthetic  in  their  relations  to  each 
other.     Why  should  we  fear  the  synthetic  amongst 


UNITY   OF  THE   TRUTH.  239 

all  the  Religions?  If  each  has  truth,  why  should 
the  other  dread  to  accept  it?  If  each  has  goodness, 
why  should  it  refuse  to  impart  that  goodness  to 
others?  Why  should  any  Religion,  even  the  Chris- 
tian Religion,  be  exclusive  rather  than  inclusive? 
Why  attempt  to  draw  lines  in  the  open  and  infinite 
space  of  God's  infinite  love? 

'Tor  the  love  of  God  is  broader 
Than  the  measure  of  man's  mind, 
And  the  heart  of  the  Eternal 
Is  most  wonderfully  kind." 

China  presented  the  greatest  example  of  the  syn- 
thetic spirit  in  religion.  The  Chinese,  unless  they 
be  priests,  belong  to  no  one  religion,  but  accept 
truths  and  teachings,  rites  and  tenets,  from  all  three, 
and  no  doubt  much  of  the  religious  thought  of  the 
nation  has  also  been  derived  from  Judaism,  Chris- 
tianity, and  Islam.  The  three  great  Religions  of 
China  are  not  in  any  sense  mutually  exclusive.  "The 
three,"  as  Mr.  Soothill  has  said,  ''are  complementary 
rather  than  antagonistic  to  each  other,  and  together 
they  make  a  fuller  provision  for  human  needs  than 
any  one  of  them  does  separately."  Thus  the  story 
is  told  of  the  scholar  of  the  sixth  century,  Fu  Hsi, 
that  he  was  wont  to  wear  a  Taoist  cap,  a  Buddhist 
scarf,  and  Confucian  shoes.  An  old  saying  is  this : 
"Three  Religions,  one  organism;  nine  streams,  one 
spring;  one  hundred  schools,  one  principle;  ten 
thousand  methods,  one  rule." 

The  Japanese  have  the  same  happy  combination 
of  Shintoism,  Buddhism,  and  Confucianism.  It  is 
hence  hard  for  them  as  for  the  Chinese  to  see  why 


240      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

they  should  become  exclusive  in  becoming  Christian. 
Count  Okuma,  when  asked  what  would  be  the  future 
religion  of  Japan,  replied,  "Frankly,  I  do  not  know 
what  it  will  be.  Perhaps  it  may  contain  a  mixture 
of  all  the  Religions ;  probably  not  Christianity  in  its 
Western  form.  We  need  the  social  side  of  Chris- 
tianity in  Japan,  your  neighborly  and  philanthropic 
characteristics.  We  do  not  understand  nor  do  we 
care  for  your  theology." 

Schiller,  in  his  drama  of  "Nathan  the  Wise", 
shows  how  Saladin  the  Moslem,  Richard  the  Chris- 
tian, and  Nathan  the  Jew  are  changed  from  mutual 
suspicion  into  mutual  affection  and  a  common  faith. 
In  the  same  drama  he  tells  how  a  man  of  the  East 
bequeathed  a  ring  to  his  favorite  son,  who  would  be 
"beloved  by  God  and  men,"  and  how,  when  the  ring 
was  passed  down  to  one  of  his  descendants  who  had 
three  sons  equally  beloved,  the  father  had  two  other 
rings  made,  just  like  the  original,  and  when  the 
three  sought  to  find  out  which  was  the  original  ring, 
the  ring  of  promise,  the  father  said :  "The  true  gem, 
you  say,  has  the  power  of  making  its  possessor  be- 
loved by  God  and  men.  Strive,  then,  each  of  you, 
after  the  worthy  life,  and  he  who  excels  in  meek- 
ness, in  obedience,  in  rectitude,  will  prove  himself  to 
be  the  owner  of  the  true  ring."  Thus  is  it  with  him 
who  seeks  to  know  the  true  Faith. 

This  broad,  comprehensive  outlook  on  the  world, 
this  cosmopolitanism  of  purpose,  distinguished 
Jesus  Christ  amongs  all  the  sons  of  men.  His  disci- 
ples even  down  to  our  own  day  have  only  faintly 
seen  the  vision  which  He  saw,  and  have  ever  tended 
both  to  limit  their  own  love  and  to  place  a  boundary 
to  the  love  of  God.    The  Christian  teaching,  and  the 


UNITY  OF  THE  TRUTH.  241 

best  thought  of  all  Faiths,  is  to  widen  the  scope  of 
Love's  infinite  sway,  far  beyond  the  limits  of  creed 
or  Church,  of  political  mandate  or  ecclesiastical  dic- 
tum. 

Hence  no  one  Religion  is  as  great  as  Truth,  and 
Truth  is  infallible  and  ineffable  only  when  found  in 
God.  In  the  primal  Source  there  are  homogeneity 
and  unity;  in  the  differentiations  of  divine  Truth 
through  the  Religions  of  the  world  there  is  hetero- 
geneity, but  with  it,  whilst  there  may  not  be  unity, 
there  ought  to  be  concord. 

Coleridge  puts  the  matter  clearly  in  the  following 
sentence:  "He  who  begins  by  loving  Christianity 
better  than  Truth,  will  proceed  by  loving  his  own 
sect  or  Church  better  than  Christianity,  and  end  in 
loving  himself  better  than  all.'' 

Dr.  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  says :  ''The  truth  is  no 
man's  private  possession  nor  is  it  established  by  the 
authority  of  any  man  or  party.  To  bring  others 
under  its  influence  is  not  proselytism." 

Whilst  theosophy  may  not  be  acceptable  to  all  reli- 
gious thinkers,  the  following  statement  of  aim 
amongst  members  of  the  Theosophical  Society  ap- 
pear to  us  most  excellent :  "Their  bond  of  union  is 
not  the  profession  of  a  common  belief,  but  a  common 
search  and  aspiration  for  Truth.  They  hold  that 
Truth  should  be  sought  by  study,  by  reflection,  by 
purity  of  life,  by  devotion  to  high  ideals,  and  they 
regard  Truth  as  a  prize  to  be  striven  for,  not  as  a 
dogma  to  be  imposed  by  authority.  They  extend 
tolerance  to  all,  even  to  the  intolerant,  not  as  a  privi- 
lege they  bestow,  but  as  a  duty  they  perform,  and 
they  seek  to  remove  ignorance,  not  to  punish  it. 
They  see  every  Religion  as  an  expression  of  the  Di- 


242      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

vine  Wisdom,  and  prefer  its  study  to  its  condemna- 
tion, and  its  practice  to  its  proselytism." 

The  final  triumph  of  the  Truth ;  the  dominance  of 
goodness  and  righteousness;  men  held  in  bondage 
to  the  persuasiveness  of  Infinite  love ;  God  sovereign 
over  all,  and  the  revelations  of  Himself  all  completed 
in  finite  existence;  the  Kingdom  of  God  come  to 
earth  as  it  is  in  heaven;  all  human  desires  satisfied 
and  God's  purposes  fulfilled ;  every  form  of  Religion, 
of  worship,  of  doctrine,  of  method,  rounded  out  in 
spiritual  reconciliation  with  God;  and  the  grandeur 
and  charm  of  all  the  saints  and  worthies  in  many 
lands  and  throughout  the  ages,  and  the  supreme 
leadership  of  Christ  in  drawing  men  unto  the  Father, 
with  promised  hope  of  eternal  life,  and  blessed  for- 
giveness, and  lives  made  pure, — these  are  the  things 
we  see  before  our  eyes,  in  the  coming  brotherhood 
of  th  Truth.    We  close  with  Whittier : 

''Forgive,  0  Lord,  our  severing  ways. 

The  separate  altars  that  we  raise, 

The  varying  tongues  that  speak  Thy  praise ! 

''Suffice  it  now.    In  time  to  be 

Shall  one  great  temple  rise  to  Thee, 

Thy  Church  one  broad  humanity. 

"White  flowers  of  love  its  walls  shall  climb. 

Sweet  bells  of  peace  shall  ring  its  chime, 

Its  day  shall  be  all  holy  time. 

"The  hymns,  long  sought,  shall  then  be  heard, 

The  music  of  the  world's  accord. 

Confessing  Christ,  the  inward  Word! 

"That  song  shall  swell  from  shore  to  shore, 

One  faith,  one  love,  one  hope  restore. 

The  seamless  garb  that  Jesus  wore.*' 


CHAPTER  X 

AN     APPRECIATIVE     ATTITUDE     TOWARDS 

OTHER  FAITHS  IN  ITS  BEARINGS 

ON  MISSIONS 

In  the  appreciations  which  we  have  given  of  other 
religious  Faiths  and  schools  of  thought,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  discussion  of  the  last  theme  on  ''Unity 
of  the  Truth  and  Concord  amongst  Religions",  it  has 
been  made  apparent  that  the  usual  view  concerning 
missions  would  most  likely  be  subject  to  modifica- 
tion. Some  no  doubt  are  convinced  that  the  liberal 
spirit  in  religion,  whatever  the  nature  of  the  liber- 
ality, will  certainly  cut  the  nerve  of  missions,  and, 
whether  sound  or  unsound,  it  is  one  of  danger  to  the 
progress  of  the  Church  and  to  the  world's  evangeli- 
zation. 

One  common  remark  is  this:  "If  men  can  be 
saved  without  a  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ,  why 
give  them  the  Christian  Gospel?"  Still  another  re- 
mark, directed  against  every  form  of  missionary  en- 
terprise, is  this:  "The  need  at  home  is  so  great, 
why  bother  with  other  people,  who  are  getting  along 
so  well  with  their  own  civilization  and  ideas  of  reli- 
gion?" 

Hence,  whilst  we  do  not  propose  to  answer  these 
questions  one  by  one,  some  reflections  are  necessary 
as  to  the  bearings  of  the  spirit  of  appreciation  and 
liberality  on  the  cause  of  missions.     We  wish  to 

243 


244      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

show  what  the  new  concept  of  missions  is,  and, 
further,  that  benefits  and  not  harm  flow  therefrom. 
Indirectly  it  will  also  be  shown  that  so-called  liberal 
religion  has  a  part  to  play  in  the  cause  of  missions 
for  the  redemption  of  the  world. 

In  giving  expresson  to  views,  which  arise  not  only 
from  this  series  of  addresses  but  from  practical  ex- 
perience amongst  the  Religions  of  China — views 
gradually  formed  through  a  period  of  years,  and 
still,  perhaps,  subject  to  alteration  in  the  future, — 
we  wish  to  acknowledge  our  great  indebtedness  to 
the  different  addresses  of  the  late  Dr.  Charles  Cuth- 
bert  Hall,  President  of  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
New  York,  and  to  two  articles  in  'The  International 
Review  of  Missions"  for  October,  1912,  one  by  Count 
Okuma  of  Japan,  and  the  other,  suggestive,  sympa- 
thetic, well-balanced  and  illuminating,  by  Principal 
Garvie  of  New  College  in  London. 

Principal  Garvie  along  with  many  other  thinkers 
recognizes  the  great  change  which  has  taken  place, 
both  in  the  theological  expression  of  the  Christian 
Religion,  and  in  a  better  understanding  of  the  other 
Religions  of  the  world.  Hence  he  speaks  of  the 
''process  of  readjustment",  calling  it  "perilous"  and 
very  near  to  being  "an  acute  crisis".  He  also  refers, 
with  less  fear,  to  the  "solid  reconstruction  of  Chris- 
tian theology"  which  is  taking  place  under  compe- 
tent scholars.  The  liberal  spirit,  which  he  has  in 
mind,  is  not  so  much  that  of  appreciating  the  good 
in  other  Religions  as  that  which  shows  itself  in  the 
acceptance  of  science,  of  the  theory  of  evolution,  or 
of  Darwinism ;  and,  through  another  class  of  think- 
ers, in  the  "higher  criticism"  of  the  Bible.     The 


MISSIONS.  245 

main  results  of  these  forms  of  research  are  evi- 
dently accepted  by  Principal  Garvie,  but  with  due 
caution.  In  reference  to  higher  criticism  he  says: 
''Questions  of  date  and  authorship,  literary  charac- 
ter, and  even  historical  value,  are  now  seen  to  be 
matters  of  indifference  to  Christian  faith,  so  long 
as  the  historical  reality  of  a  progressive  revelation 
culminating  in  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God, 
and  of  a  final  redemption  in  the  crucifixion  and  res- 
urrection of  Christ  are  recognized." 

If  the  vitality  of  missions  is  not  weakened  by 
these  views  of  liberal  religion,  it  surely  is  in  no  dan- 
ger from  a  mere  appreciative,  and,  we  may  add, 
complimentary,  reference  to  other  Religions. 

I. 

First  of  all,  then,  the  new  concept  of  missions 
places  the  emphasis  on  appreciation  of  the  religious 
beliefs  of  others,  rather  than  on  the  destruction  or 
even  criticism  of  these  beliefs.  The  prevalent  view 
held  hitherto  has  been,  that  other  Religions  were 
false  and  ought  to  be  overthrown. 

Should  any  good  be  discovered  within  them,  yet, 
it  has  been  claimed,  because  of  comparative  inferior- 
ity to  the  Christian  message  they  were  still  destined 
to  pass  away.  The  message  and  the  hymns  of  the 
missionary  have  been  martial  in  tone.  Hope  of  vic- 
tory has  spurred  him  on.  All  others  were  doomed 
to  defeat. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  such  thoughts  fill  one  with 
enthusiasm.  There  is  no  doubt  that  similar  confi- 
dence of  coming  victory  characterizes  the  hero  of 


246      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

the  battlefield.  What  is  worthy  of  serious  attention 
is  that  other  Religions,  like  that  of  Islam,  have  also 
been  aroused  to  service  and  even  to  suffering  at  the 
prospect  of  the  infiders  downfall. 

The  newer,  and,  as  it  seems  to  us,  the  higher,  con- 
ception of  a  religious  propaganda  is  that  of  sympa- 
thy and  friendliness  for  those  who  hold  views  other 
than  our  own,  and  of  appreciation,  if  not  admira- 
tion, for  the  great  religious  systems,  which  have 
won  through  many  centuries  the  allegiance  of  mill- 
ions of  our  fellowmen. 

Mencius  has  said:  "Respect  others,  and  others 
will  respect  you.''  Christ  said :  "Think  not  that  I 
came  to  destroy  the  law  and  the  prophets.  I  came 
not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill.''  The  public  ministry 
of  Jesus  was  not  one  of  antagonism,  except  to  the 
evil  doer,  especially  the  religious  hypocrite.  He  was 
never  "contrary";  he  was  sympathetic,  gentle  and 
kind.  Whether  He  knew  anything  or  not  of  the 
philosophical  schools  of  Athens  and  Rome,  He  at 
least,  so  far  as  the  records  tell  us,  never  denounced 
them.  As  to  Judaism,  He  did  not  withdraw  from  its 
places  and  forms  of  worship,  or  seek  to  subvert  its 
fundamental  principles.  The  Apostle  Paul,  though 
trained  in  the  schools,  likewise  made  no  attack  on 
other  Religions.  In  fact,  he  seldom  referred  to 
them.  He,  like  his  Master,  only  antagonized  sin. 
The  one  time  when  he  came  into  contact  with  reli- 
gious philosophers,  that  at  Athens,  he  was  apprecia- 
tive and  complimentary  in  spirit  and  in  address. 

It  is  clear  that  such  a  purpose  to  appreciate  others 
and  think  well  of  their  beliefs  and  practices  is  more 
akin  to  spirituality  of  life  and  to  a  Gospel  of  love 


MISSIONS.  247 

than  is  the  opposite  purpose.  When  one  really  de- 
termines to  seek  for  all  the  good  that  other  races  and 
Faiths  possess,  and  to  recognize  and  praise  it,  a  feel- 
ing of  exhilaration  and  great  joy  comes  into  one's 
soul. 

The  conciliatory  method,  in  matters  of  religious 
opinion,  is  one  of  least  resistance.  Principal  Garvie 
says :  "Possibly  the  reason  why  some  of  the  brethren 
are  attracted  by  this  liberal  Christianity  is  that  it 
seems  to  offer  the  line  of  least  resistance  in  dealing 
with  other  Faiths."  Whether  one  yields  to  liberal 
Christianity  or  not,  he  may  well  feel  attracted  to 
the  conciliatory  spirit  in  Christianity.  He  contin- 
ues: ^'Sympathy  and  appreciation  of  the  religious 
thought  and  life  with  which  they  have  been  brought 
into  close  contact  make  the  exclusiveness  of  the 
evangelical  type  of  theology  appear  intolerance." 
Referring  to  the  reports  sent  in  by  missionaries  to 
the  Edinburgh  Missionary  Conference,  he  says  that 
*'with  few  exceptions  the  attitude  of  the  mission- 
aries was  appreciative  and  sympathetic,"  and  he 
adds: 

"That  is  only  what  one  had  a  right  to  expect.  The 
recipients  of  the  grace  of  God  must  need  be  gra- 
cious ;  they  who  have  obtained  mercy  should  be  mer- 
ciful." In  another  place,  this  writer  indicates  his 
approval  of  the  appreciative  attitude  in  these  words : 
"A  fuller  recognition  of  what  is  true  and  good  in  the 
beliefs,  rites,  and  customs  of  other  religions,  and  a 
better  readiness  in  every  missionary  to  admit  what 
is  temporary  and  local  in  our  presentation  of  the 
gospel,  seem  to  be  necessary  conditions  of  further 
progress." 


248      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

'Towards  the  close  of  his  article,  he  utters  a 
warning  concerning  too  great  a  spirit  of  accomoda- 
tion, but  not  of  too  great  conciliation.  He  says: 
"Adaptation  within  limits  there  must  be,  but  let  the 
missionary  beware  lest  he  be  too  accommodating, 
and  so  once  more  bury  rather  than  embody  the  Gos- 
pel in  temporary  and  local  forms." 

On  this  point  only  one  word  more :  The  apprecia- 
tive spirit  is  for  Buddhist  and  Moslem  as  well  as 
Christian,  for  Roman  Catholic  as  well  as  Protestant, 
for  liberal  Christian  as  well  as  orthodox  evangelical, 
for  unbeliever  as  well  as  believer.  If  one  side  in  any 
great  religious  difference  or  dispute  begins  and  con- 
tinues in  the  spirit  of  appreciation  and  kindly  re- 
gard, a  response  from  the  other  side  is  almost  a  cer- 
tainty. When  appreciation  becomes  reciprocal,  the 
relations  between  nations  and  creeds  will  not  be  far 
from  perfection. 

II. 

A  second  feature  of  the  new  concept  of  missions, 
rooted  deep  in  the  feeling  of  appreciation  of  other 
Religions,  is  that  of  comprehension  rather  than  of 
exclusiveness.  In  a  word,  the  mistake  is  now  ac- 
knowledged that  the  exclusive  spirit,  even  more  in 
religion  than  in  social  life,  arouses  no  response  but 
that  of  resentment.  With  such  a  spirit  the  Chris- 
tian missionary  will  never  attract  any  disciples. 
Christ  was  not  such.  He  embraced  the  world.  He 
was  the  highest  type  of  a  cosmopolitan.  He  placed 
no  restrictions  on  God's  love,  on  religious  truth,  or 
on  man's  capacity  to  goodness  and  everlasting  life. 
Not  one  word  proceeded  from  His  mouth  which  im- 


MISSIONS.  249 

plied  that  His  teachings,  since  called  Christianity, 
alone  made  known  the  infinite  mind  of  God  or  ex- 
hibited divine  grace.  This  truth  we  have  dwelt  upon 
in  previous  lectures,  but  here  we  wish  to  point  out 
how  much  greater  is  the  stimulus  to  missionary  en- 
terprise, if  one  is  assured  that  the  people  to  whom 
he  comes  with  the  story  of  the  Gospel  have  great 
truths  and  many  excellences,  and  that  these  are  all 
or  part  of  God's  kingdom,  that  they  proceed  from 
Him  and  are  His  gift  to  men.  The  missionary  thus 
comes  not  only  to  teach,  but  ever  to  learn  more  ana 
more.  He  passes  out  from  the  narrow  environment 
and  circumscribed  conceptions  of  his  own  town  and 
country  to  the  larger  schooling  of  the  world's  great 
Religions.  The  missionary  of  all  mefi  should  have 
broad  views.  In  fact,  more  missionaries  are  broad- 
ened than  narrowed  by  contact  with  other  peoples, 
other  races,  and  other  Faiths. 

Let  me  here  quote  from  Principal  Garvie :  ''It  is 
now  agreed  that  religion  is  universal  in  mankind 
and  necessary  to  mankind."  And  here  he  is  not 
speaking  of  a  particular  system  of  Religion,  but  of 
the  common  religious  substratum  of  mankind. 
"What  is  being  established  by  anthropology  and  the 
comparative  study  of  the  historical  religions  is  that 
there  is  a  uniformity  in  the  religious  development  of 
mankind.  This  uniformity  is  not  rigid,  as  there  are 
climatic  differences,  racial  characteristics,  histori- 
cal conditions,  personal  influences,  which  inevitably 
introduce  variety."  The  writer  even  goes  further  in 
his  thought.  He  adds:  ''When  we  take  so  world- 
wide and  age-long  a  survey  of  Religion,  it  is  impos- 
sible for  us  to  dismiss  scornfully  or  even  angrily,  as 


25U      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

absurd  or  perverse,  beliefs,  rites,  and  customs, 
which  at  first  contact  with  them  may  appear  to  us 
irrational  and  even  immoral." 

Under  this  head,  we  close  with  these  words  of 
Count  Okuma:  *'Let  Christians  make  an  effort  to 
find  points  of  contact  with  Buddhism  and  Shinto ;  to 
cast  aside  the  non-essentials  and  to  emphasize  the 
points  of  agreement.  The  watchword  of  true  reli- 
gionists should  be  tolerance  and  inclusiveness." 

III. 

In  the  third  place,  under  the  new  concept  of  mis- 
sions, one  is  filled  with  hope  as  to  mankind,  rather 
than  with  gloom  and  melancholy,  and  with  a  joyful 
sense  of  God's  infinite  love  rather  than  with  the  sus- 
spicion,  hardly  expressed  but  none  the  less  felt,  that 
God  is  arbitrary  and  partial. 

Principal  Garvie,  after  referring  to  the  old  view 
that  ''all  men  were  perishing  without  Christ,"  and 
that  ''Christianity  alone  was  true,  and  all  other  Re- 
ligions false,"  adds :  "To  us  today  it  may  seem  im- 
possible to  hold  the  same  belief.  The  revelation  of 
God's  fatherhood  in  Christ,  as  our  mind  apprehends 
it  and  our  heart  responds  to  it,  makes  it  incredible 
that  God  should  condemn  men  for  not  believing  in  a 
Saviour  of  whom  they  had  never  heard ;  and  that  He 
should  have  left  Himself  so  utterly  without  any  wit- 
ness amongst  the  greater  part  of  mankind." 

In  this  connexion  we  again  refer  to  the  modern, 
and  at  the  same  time  very  ancient,  belief  in  God's 
immanence,  or,  from  the  Christian  standpoint,  in 
the  universal  activities  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God. 


MISSIONS.  251 

Thus  writes  Dr.  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall :  "The  criti- 
cal study  of  the  sources  of  Oriental  Religion,  the 
wider  acquaintance  with  holy  aspirations  and  ex- 
periences occurring  beyond  the  zone  of  Christian  in- 
fluence, have  not  only  added  to  our  knowledge  of 
man  but  deepened  our  knowledge  of  God.  That  the 
activity  of  His  Spirit  is  more  mysteriously  diffused 
than  an  earlier  age  supposed ;  that  the  relations  of 
human  souls  with  God  transcend  the  limits  set  by 
theological  opinion ;  that  the  plan  of  God  for  the  re- 
ligious development  of  the  world  stretches  out  be- 
yond our  narrow  Churchmanship,  as  the  immensity 
of  the  sea  stretches  out  beyond  the  moles  and  jetties 
of  our  harbour- ways — these  are  amongst  the  momen- 
tous implications  attaching  to  the  immanence  of  God 
in  the  light  of  the  scientific  study  of  religion." 

This  broader  and  more  ennobling  outlook  on  life 
and  conception  of  the  Infinite  One  will  not  only  meet 
a  glad  response  in  the  adherents  of  other  Faiths,  but 
will  help  them  to  a  better  life  and  higher  ideals. 

IV. 

As  a  fourth  feature  of  this  broader  concept  of  mis- 
sions, such  as  is  derived  from  a  study  of  all  Reli- 
gions, supremacy  is  given  to  the  Supreme  Being 
alone,  rather  than  to  any  particular  Religion  or  any 
sacred  Scriptures,  or  to  any  human  being,  however 
exalted.  God  alone  is  "all  and  in  all."  ''To  Him  he 
all  the  glory/' 

Such  a  lofty  message,  the  message  of  the  grandest 
truth  that  the  world  has  to  proclaim  or  to  hear,  will 
antagonize  no  Religion,  not  even  those  which  coun- 


252      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

tenance  idolatry.    It  is  a  universal  truth,  a  funda- 
mental doctrine,  a  living  dogma. 

What  is  aimed  at  is  the  realization  of  a  correct 
proportion  between  God,  the  Source  of  all  that  is, 
and  the  Religions,  the  Bibles,  and  the  human  per- 
sons, in  whom  God  has  dwelt  and  through  whom 
He  speaks  to  all  humanity.  No  disrespect  is  cast  on 
any  Religion,  on  any  of  its  Sacred  Books,  or  any  of 
its  holy  Teachers;  rather  they  are  revered,  and  all 
the  more  so,  that  they  are  glorified  by  the  glory  of 
divinity.  The  thought  insisted  upon  is  merely  this, 
that  God  is  supreme  over  all. 

Let  me  endeavour  to  make  clear  my  meaning  by  a 
more  specific  comparison  of  that  which  is  first,  and 
that  second. 

If  I  should  make  the  statement  that  it  is  not  the 
missionary's  chief  duty  to  make  people  Christians, 
there  would  be  a  stir  in  the  camp ;  but  in  a  sense  this 
statement  is  correct.  Most  of  the  people  of  Europe 
are  Christians,  but  this  is  no  great  honour  to  God's 
working  in  the  world.  To  be  in  the  Church,  to  be 
baptized,  to  be  confirmed,  or  even  to  be  consecrated 
as  a  priest  or  clergyman,  may  mean  much  or  mean 
little.  So  in  China,  to  lay  stress  on  ^'entering  the 
religion,"  as  it  is  expressed,  is  to  lay  stress  on  the 
wrong  place.  The  supreme  duty,  the  all-important 
truth,  taught  indeed  in  Christianity,  and  also  more 
or  less  clearly  in  other  Religions,  is  that  to  obey  God 
is  the  corner-stone  of  all  religion.  "Fear  God  and 
keep  His  commandments,  for  this  is  the  whole  duty 
of  man."  The  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism  puts 
it  thus:  "What  is  the  chief  end  of  man?"     "Man's 


MISSIONS.  253 

chief  end  is  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  Him  for- 
ever/' 

No  Religion,  then,  Christianity  or  any  other, 
should  supersede  God. 

We  may  magnify  the  Church,  and  feel  stirred  by 
the  thought  of  its  continuity  through  the  centuries, 
as  we  have  seen  to  be  the  attraction  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  but  we  are  in  error  if  we  idolize  the  Church 
more  than  we  adore  God,  without  whose  presence 
the  Church  would  be  as  nothing. 

Equally  erroneous  is  what  Principal  Garvie 
speaks  of  as  "a  humanitarian  and  naturalistic  Chris- 
tianity/' The  new  view  of  missions,  just  as  the 
broader  conception  of  the  world's  Religions,  recog- 
nizes with  gratitude  the  presence  of  God  both  in 
Christianity  and  in  every  other  religious  Faith. 

In  the  same  way  the  Christian  may  rightly  magni- 
fy the  Bible,  but  if  he  makes  a  fetich  of  the  Bible, 
and  requires  the  same  loyalty  to  a  Book  as  he  re- 
quires for  the  God  of  the  Book,  he  is  by  so  much 
derogating  from  God's  supremacy.  The  Christian 
theory  of  verbal  inspiration,  where  every  book  of 
the  Bible  is  a  revelation  from  God,  and  all  parts  are 
the  truth  of  God,  is  the  same  as  the  claim  made  by  a 
class  of  Moslems  concerning  the  Koran.  The  broader 
idea  is  that  the  Jewish  and  Christian  Scriptures, 
like  the  Koran  and  other  sacred  Books,  contain  the 
truth  of  God,  and  in  some  cases  a  special  revelation, 
but  that  the  chief  duty  is  to  know  and  follow  the 
Word  of  God  and  the  Will  of  God,  wherever  and  how- 
ever they  are  made  known  to  the  mind  of  man.  If 
the  Christian  has  respect  for  the  classics  of  other 
Religions,  he  may  hope  that  others  will  have  respect 


254      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

for  the  great  series  of  classics  contained  within  our 
Bible. 

Equally  vital,  but  more  difficult  of  explanation,  is 
the  other  thought  that  no  human  person  should  su- 
persede God.  The  Christian  will  agree  with  me  that 
Confucius  or  Muhammad  or  Zoroaster  should  not  be 
elevated  to  the  place  of  God,  and  in  this  assertion  I 
am  sure  of  the  assent  of  the  Confucianist,  the  Mos- 
lem or  the  Parsee. 

When  we  come  to  speak  of  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ,  there  is  danger  of  one  being  misunderstood, 
but  still  I  venture  to  testify  to  the  universal  and  fun- 
damental truth  we  have  advanced  by  saying  that  we 
should  not  look  upon  Jesus  Christ  as  we  look  upon 
God,  still  less  that  he  should  supersede  God.  There 
are  those  who  in  their  thoughts  and  their  prayers 
think  of  God  as  God,  and  Jesus  as  God,  and  in  so 
thinking  think  of  two  distinct  persons;  in  other 
words,  of  two  Gods.  Others  try  to  think  of  God  as 
One  and  as  Infinite  and  as  omnipresent,  and  of  Jesus 
as  a  human  person,  with  limitations,  but  with  God 
dwelling  within  him,  in  other  words,  as  Immanuel. 
Such  an  one,  when  he  prays,  prays  to  God,  but  not  to 
Jesus  Christ.  God,  indeed,  as  the  infinite  one  **in- 
habiting  eternity,"  is  ever  manifesting  Himself,  and 
in  a  special  way  manifested  Himself  "in  the  flesh," 
"in  the  name  Christ  Jesus,"  but  no  one  manifesta- 
tion is  the  ivhole  of  the  Infinite  and  cannot  be. 

And  here  I  give  an  exhortation  to  the  liberal 
Christian  as  to  the  orthodox  Christian.  We  have  in 
a  previous  discussion  shown  how  it  is  that,  whilst  we 
believe  in  the  Triune  God,  though  not  in  the  current 
expression  of  that  idea,  we  can  yet  appreciate  the 


MISSIONS.  255 

teachings  of  the  Unitarian.  It  is  equally  incumbent 
on  the  Unitarian  to  try  to  understand  and  appre- 
ciate the  underlying  principles  of  orthodox  Chris- 
tian theology,  just  as  he  aims  at  understanding  and 
appreciating  the  teachings  of  other  Religions. 

Principal  Garvie  has  put  the  matter  thus :  "If  we 
believe  only  in  religious  ideas  which  are  to  be  com- 
mended as  truer  than  others,  or  moral  ideas  which 
are  to  be  urged  as  better  than  others,  we  must  be 
prepared  for  a  very  slow  progress  of  the  Gospel  in 
the  world.  If  even  in  Christ  we  are  going  to  offer 
to  mankind  only  a  wiser  teacher  and  a  holier  exam- 
ple than  Gautama,  Confucius,  or  Muhammad,  the  ad- 
vance of  Christianty  is  likely  to  test  our  endurance 
to  the  uttermost.  Only  if  we  confess  in  the  histori- 
cal Jesus  and  the  living  Christ  the  manifestation 
and  communication  of  the  God  who  is  in  all,  and 
through  all,  and  over  all,  to  all  mankind,  to  meet  fully 
the  spirit's  hunger  and  thirst  after  God,  to  deliver 
surely  the  soul  enslaved  to  sin,  can  we  have  the  cer- 
tainty and  confidence  which  will  inspire  constancy 
and  courage  that  the  world  will  be  won  for  Christ; 
and  as  speedily  as  we  have  the  faith  to  claim  the 
moral  and  spiritual  resources  of  God  which  are  put 
at  our  disposal  in  this  work  of  God.  The  question  is 
not  whether  we  retain  this  or  that  theological  con- 
ception of  the  past,  but  whether  we  have  faith,  as 
Christ  had,  in  the  Father-God  as  mighty  as  He  is 
merciful,  faith  in  Christ  as  able  to  save  to  the  ut- 
termost all  who  come  to  God  by  Him,  faith  in  the 
presence  and  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  convince 
and  convert  all  men.*' 

The  thought  here  which  seems  to  be  all-important 


256       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

is  where  he  asserts  that  in  Jesus  Christ  there  is  ''the 
manifestation  and  communication  of  the  God  who 
is  in  all,  and  through  all,  and  over  all."  With  such 
a  presentation  of  a  vital  truth,  we  recognize  it  is 
God  in  Christ  and  in  all,  whom  we  are  to  worship 
and  to  serve,  and  that  God  is  not  exclusively  in 
Christ,  but  in  all  hearts,  and  particularly  in  the 
hearts  of  His  chosen  ones  amongst  all  nations  and 
in  all  times. 

Professor  William  Adams  Brown  in  a  review  of 
the  theological  teachings  of  Professor  William  New- 
ton Clarke — two  liberal  interpreters  of  Christianity 
within  the  bounds  of  orthodox  Churches — says : 

"To  the  older  Protestantism,  as  is  well  known, 
the  trinity  had  to  do  with  inner  distinctions  in  the 
nature  of  God  himself,  distinctions  rendered  neces- 
sary in  order  to  overcome  the  fundamental  ethical 
dualism  to  which  we  have  already  referred.  These 
ontological  distinctions  have  lost  their  meaning  for 
our  author.  The  trinity  is  a  truth  of  the  Christian 
experience.  The  distinctions  with  which  it  deals 
concern  man  rather  than  God.  They  express  differ- 
ent aspects  in  which  God  manifests  himself  to  us  as 
we  contemplate  the  different  phases  of  his  redemp- 
tive activity.  He  manifests  himself  in  the  order  of 
natural  processes  which  are  the  necessary  presup- 
positions of  the  religious  experience.  He  manifests 
himself  in  historical  revelation  and  supremely  in  the 
person  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord.  He  manifests  him- 
self, finally,  in  that  personal  experience  through 
which  we  apprehend  Jesus  as  the  revelation  of  the 
God  of  all  the  world.  In  all  three  aspects,  it  is  the 
same  gracious  God  who  is  revealed." 


MISSIONS.  257 

In  another  article  Professor  Brown  states  this 
wider  view  in  a  way  that  no  one  need  fear  a  lack  of 
zeal  for  him  who  accepts  it.  Speaking  of  the  Bible, 
he  says :  *'We  see  that  it  can  no  longer  be  isolated 
from  other  books,  as  was  the  habit  in  the  old  the- 
ology." He  then  continues :  ''Salvation  is  not  an  act 
wrought  once  for  all  in  some  transcendent  realm. 
It  is  a  process  going  through  the  ages,  and  rooted 
as  truly  as  sin  itself  in  the  nature  of  man.  Calvary 
is  a  principle  as  well  as  an  event.  .  .  .  Justi- 
fication and  sanctification  are  experiences  found  out- 
side of  Christianity  ....  Jesus  is  not  God 
and  man,  he  is  God  in  man,  the  first-born  amongst 
many  brethren,  but  the  type  to  which  all  mankind  is 
ultimately  destined  to  conform." 

The  late  Rev.  Howard  Crosby,  a  prominent  Pres- 
byterian of  New  York,  used  these  words: 

''No  action  of  our  Saviour's  earthly  life,  from 
Bethlehem  to  Calvary,  exhibits  divinity.  He  ap- 
pears first  as  a  helpless  babe  in  the  manger.  He  is 
subject  to  His  parents.  As  the  child  grows,  He 
waxes  strong  in  spirit  and  increases  in  wisdom. 
Such  an  increase  in  wisdom  implies  increase  in 
knowledge,  and  less  knowledge  or  greater  ignorance 
today  than  tomorrow.  Omniscience  could  not  have 
been  exercised  by  the  Jesus  who  was  growing  in 
wisdom.  If  any  say  here,  as  we  usually  do,  that  the 
humanity  grew  but  the  divinity  was  omniscient,  let 
us  ask  if  there  were  two  persons  in  Jesus.  This 
Nestorianism  is  practically  the  creed  of  the  present 
day  with  the  Reformed  Churches.  They  have  gone 
over  to  a  virtual  duplication  of  the  person  of  Christ.'' 

To  this  statement  I  am  inclined  to  offer  a  modifica- 


258      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

tion.  Christ,  as  many  spiritually-minded  Unitar- 
ians are  glad  to  recognize,  showed  forth  divinity  far 
surpassing  all  others  of  the  sons  of  men,  but  let  us 
not  claim  that  God  has  not  made  use  of  other 
prophets  to  reveal  Himself  or  that  into  the  heart  of 
any  man  God  Himself  forbids  an  entrance,  but 
leaves  man  to  his  own  vain  efforts  to  rise  to  the  di- 
vine. 

In  brief,  the  thought  of  liberal  Christianity,  to 
which  liberal  thinkers  in  every  Religion  will  give 
assent, — a  thought  of  wonderfully  impelling  power 
to  go  forth  amongst  men  both  as  teacher  and  learn- 
er— is  that  God  dwells  in  every  Religion,  every  Sa- 
cred Scripture,  and  every  Holy  Teacher,  and  that  the 
Christian  missionary's  inspiring  task  is  to  co-oper- 
ate with  others  in  making  known  ''the  riches  of 
God's  grace"  in  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  Gospel  story, 
and  in  all  the  Bible,  which  tells  so  fully  of  God*s  do- 
ings amongst  God's  children. 

V. 

A  fifth  feature  of  the  new  concept  of  Christianity, 
which  may  well  be  a  stimulus  to  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions, is  the  supremacy  of  a  religious  leader  over  a 
religious  creed.  We  have  already  pointed  out  the 
importance  of  placing  the  Supreme  Being  above 
every  human  person,  every  Religion,  and  every 
sacred  Scripture.  Holding  fast  to  this  proportion 
of  values,  we  now  lay  stress  on  another  proportion, 
that  which  exists  between  a  human  person  and  a 
creed. 

The  vitalizing  power  of  Christianity  or  any  other 


MISSIONS.  259 

Religion  is  no  doubt  often  traced  to  what  we  call 
truths,  or  principles,  or  dogmas,  or  sometimes  a 
creed;  but  if  we  examine  carefully  the  sources  of 
spiritual  power,  we  must  see  that  next  to  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  able  to  apply  all  truth  to 
the  human  soul,  and  to  guide  the  soul  into  all  truth, 
is  the  power  of  great  religious  personalities. 

Professor  Lucius  H.  Smith,  outlining  the  teaching 
of  the  German  theologian,  Troeltsch,  says:  'The 
centre  of  a  great  religion  is  always  a  person,  its 
founder;  and  the  essential  element  in  any  organiza- 
tion of  this  kind  is  the  attitude  toward  this  founder. 
All  else  is  secondary.  The  cult,  dogmas,  and  creeds 
are  only  expressions  of  this  relation."  In  fact,  in 
all  Religions  the  tendency  has  been  not  so  much  to 
minimize  their  illustrious  founders  and  teachers  as 
to  exalt  them  to  the  point  of  perfection.  This  deifi- 
cation has  superseded  the  original  historic  person. 

If  we  study  Christianity,  we  see  beyond  all  dis- 
pute the  vitalizing  power  of  the  personality  of  Jesus 
Christ.  In  Judaism  and  Islam,  a  number  of  these 
personalities  stand  forth,  each  occupying  a  definite 
place  as  messenger  of  God.  In  the  other  Religions 
the  example  and  life  of  a  personal  leader  do  not 
always  appear  with  the  same  importance,  or  exercise 
the  same  authority.  Confucius  in  Confucianism  is 
indeed  highly  exalted,  in  fact  too  much  so,  but  the 
veneration  created  is  probably  more  for  a  certain 
idea  than  for  an  historic  person  as  made  known  in 
historic  words  and  deeds  and,  more  than  all,  in  an 
historic  example.  It  seems  as  if  most  Conf  ucianists 
like  many  Christians  are  influenced  more  by  great 
principles  of  the  past  than  by  thought  of  a  person. 


260      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

This  is  still  more  true  of  Taoism,  where  the  knowl- 
edge of  Lao  Tsze  as  an  historical  person  is  most  in- 
definite. In  Buddhism  the  power  is  not  so  much 
from  Gautama  as  the  Buddha,  whilst  in  Northern 
Buddhism  the  new  Buddha  is  not  a  representation 
of  any  particular  person.  Yet  even  in  Taoism  and 
Buddhism,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  their  best 
form  is  that  of  their  first  leaders. 

Personality  in  every  Religion  is  stronger  than  a 
principle.  A  life  more  than  a  creed  shapes  human 
conduct.  Any  Religion  must  alv/ays  need  the  man 
of  vision,  inspired  of  God,  to  mediate  the  truths  of 
religion  to  the  souls  of  others.  The  crux  of  all  reli- 
gion is  the  religious  life  and  not  any  particular 
formulary  of  religion. 

The  great  men  of  history  have  been  those  who 
thought  much  on  the  profound  things  and  spiritual 
factors  of  human  existence.  Such  are  the  leaders 
of  men.  We  do  well  to  revere  them,  and  we  do  better 
if  we  follow  them.  In  our  reverence  for  them  and  in 
fairness  to  them,  let  us  not  tarnish  their  names  by 
imputing  to  them  faults  of  our  own  lives  or  by  find- 
ing an  excuse  for  subsequent  evils  in  the  fact  that 
we  today  are  followers  of  these  first  teachers.  Prin- 
cipal Garvie  rightly  says:  **Just  as  we  should  re- 
sent Christ's  being  judged  by  the  sins  which  are 
found  in  Christendom,  so  we  must  avoid  condemning 
Confucius  for  all  the  evils  found  in  China,  or  charg- 
ing Muhammad  with  all  the  defects  of  Islam." 

Comparatively  speaking,  then,  a  creed  is  inferior 
to  a  person.  All  the  Christian  Creeds  are  less  than 
Jesus  Christ,  and  should  not  in  one's  affection  and 
veneration,  be  ever  allowed  to  supplant  Him.    This 


MISSIONS.  261 

is  far  from  saying  that  they  are  useless;  only  that 
Jesus  is  more  than  them  all.  The  simple  command, 
adapted  to  all  kinds  of  mental  equipment,  is  not, 
"Believe  a  Creed",  but,  "Follow  Jesus;  be  his  disci- 
ple; live  as  He  lived;  have  the  mind  which  was  in 
Him".  Dr.  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  speaking  of  the 
successive  theological  re-interpretations  of  Chris- 
tianity, says:  "As  presentments  of  Christian 
thought,  and  interpretations  of  revealed  truth,  they 
have  been  honoured  of  God  and  serviceable  to  man. 
But  their  noblest  quality  has  been,  not  their  relative 
adequacy,  but  their  absolute  inadequacy. 

In  a  similar  way,  Professor  Youtz  of  Auburn  The- 
ological Seminary,  has  written  with  special  refer- 
ence to  the  missionary  cause :  "If  Jesus  Christ  and 
his  message  of  God's  love  is  to  dominate  and  save 
Eastern  civilizations  with  their  millions  of  needy 
people,  they  must  be  allowed  to  reinterpret  our 
blessed  Gospel  in  forms  of  life  and  thought  which 
our  orthodoxies  do  not  know,  and  we  must  recognize 
the  heterodox  ways  in  which  God  is  already  mani- 
festing Himself  in  the  hearts  of  these  people.  We 
imperil  a  world  message  by  parochial  thinking. 
There  are  diversities  of  operations,  but  it  is  the 
same  God  which  worketh  all  in  all'.  Does  this  not 
mean  that  God  who  works  in  Islam  and  in  Buddhism 
is  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ?" 

This  supremacy  of  personality  is  stated  by  Count 
Okuma  in  the  following  manner :  "It  is  unreason- 
able to  expect  highly  educated  modern  Orientals  to 
accept  the  whole  body  of  Christian  teaching  even  in 
the  Gospels.  The  controversy  whether  Christ  was 
God  or  man  is  to  me  irrelevant.    What  I  want  is  to 


:3t)2         A  CHRISTIAN  S  APPRECIATION   OF  OTHER  FAITHS. 

know  about  His  central  teaching ;  to  come  into  con- 
tact with  His  superlative  character;  and  to  under- 
stand His  strange  power  to  draw  and  inspire  men." 

From  Principal  Garvie  we  make  several  citations : 
"The  Western  Confession  or  the  Thirty-nine  Arti- 
cles, or  even  the  Nicene  or  the  Athanasian  Creed  do 
not  assuredly  give  us  the  form  in  which  Christianity 
is  to  be  taught  throughout  the  world.  .  .  .  The 
oecumenical  creeds  did  not  unite,  but  divided  Christ- 
endom. .  .  .  The  world-wide  conquest  of  the  Gos- 
pel must  be  retarded  by  division,  and  can  be  hast- 
ened only  by  unity,  a  unity  of  eom_m_on  faith,  hope, 
love,  rather  than  a  uniformity  of  creed,  code,  or 
polity.  .  .  .  Modem  theology  is  seeking  to  free  the 
doctrine  of  the  Person  of  Christ  from  the  Greek 
metaphysics,  to  which  in  the  creeds  it  is  adapted." 

What  we  desire  to  emphasize  as  to  Christianity 
is  that  Jesus  Christ  is  more  than  a  creed  or  any 
human  interpretation  of  Christian  truth.  After  the 
personality  of  Jesus  there  grew  up  "the  cult  of 
Christ,  in  which  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  worshipped, 
not  as  God,  for  this  was  not  the  original  idea,  but  as 
Messiah  and  revealer  of  God,  the  complete  revela- 
tion of  Jahve,  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophets,  the 
revelation  of  the  Father".  This  distinction  between 
a  person  and  a  cult  or  creed  is  more  significant  in 
Christianity  than  in  other  Religions,  but  it  is  a  dis- 
tinction that  the  adherents  of  other  Faiths,  with 
their  own  veneration  for  the  Founders  of  these 
Faiths,  are  quick  to  recognize  and  appreciate.  The 
story  of  the  life  which  Jesus  lived,  whether  thought 
of  as  Son  of  Man  or  Son  of  God,  and  whether  the 
life  be  the  divine  life  of  a  man  or  the  human  life  of 


MISSIONS.  263 

God,  or,  free  from  all  intellectual  inquiries,  be  taken 
simply  as  the  life  of  a  person  called  Jesus,  who  lived 
in  Judea  and  Galilee  some  1000  years  ago,  is  a  story 
far  more  effective  in  shaping  character  than  the 
mere  intellectual  effort  to  grasp  and  give  assent  to  a 
creed.  Stating  the  orthodox  position  in  simplest 
language,  Principal  Garvie  sums  up,  **the  original 
and  essential  Christianity"  as  "faith  in  God  as  Fa- 
ther, through  Christ  as  the  Saviour,  in  the  Spirit  as 
renewer  of  man." 

This  much  is  clear  that  every  Christian,  who  is 
devoted  to  this  supreme  personality  of  all  history  in 
the  realm  of  spirituality,  should  rejoice  to  tell  the 
story  of  his  life  to  all  in  every  land  who  have  not 
heard  his  name  or  have  not  seen  aright  the  excels 
lence  of  his  character,  the  attraction  of  his  spirit, 
and  the  power  of  his  teachings. 

VI. 

In  the  sixth  place,  carrying  out  the  idea  of  a 
proper  proportion,  truth  is  placed  ahead  of  Religion. 
The  new  form  of  Christian  missions  means,  then, 
zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  truth,  rather  than 
zeal  for  the  propagation  of  Christianity  as  a  system 
of  Religion,  or  propagation  of  the  Church  or  any 
sect. 

A  saying  of  Marcus  Aurelius  is  this:  "I  search 
after  truth,  by  which  man  never  yet  was  harmed." 
Not  only  Jesus  Christ  as  a  person,  but  truth  also 
stands  ahead  of  creed  and  church.  We  quote  again 
from  Coleridge,  who  said :  *'He  who  begins  by  lov- 
ing Christianity  better  than  Truth  will  proceed  by 


264      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

loving  his  own  sect  or  Church  better  than  Christian- 
ity, and  end  in  loving  himself  better  than  all."  Dr. 
Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  says:  "There  is  an  increas- 
ing number,  in  and  out  of  Christian  pulpits,  who 
believe  that  the  first  interest  must  be  truth;  to  hold 
things  and  to  preach  things  not  because  they  are 
declared  true,  but  because  they  are  true."  And  again 
he  says:  ''Increasing  sense  of  brotherhood  in  the 
truth  is  one  of  the  notes  of  the  present  time.  It  is 
that  which  takes  the  place  of  the  sectarian  spirit. 
The  truth  is  to  be  followed  as  a  leader,  whitherso- 
ever it  goeth.  It  is  not  bound  by  man's  attempts  to 
define  it  and  to  enforce  those  definitions  as  abso- 
lute." 

There  may  be  those  who  have  lost  their  confidence 
in  the  Churches,  in  the  clergy,  in  Christians,  but  if 
they  hold  on  with  a  firm  grip  to  the  general  idea  of 
Truth,  and  to  domination  of  all  truths  in  so  far  as 
they  are  seen  to  be  truths,  then  not  yet  have  they 
broken  loose  from  the  great  brotherhood  of  truth, 
nor  do  they  deserve  to  be  ostracized  of  Christians. 
The  Rev.  Charles  F.  Dole  has  expressed  it  thus: 
"Call  this,  if  you  like,  an  age  of  question  and  doubt. 
It  is  also  an  age  of  faith, — faith  in  truth,  faith  in 
progress,  faith  in  God  and  a  universe,  growing  faith 
in  the  humanity  of  every  race  and  colour." 

Devotion  to  Truth,  the  desire  to  know  more  of 
truth  as  revealed  throughout  the  world  and  the  kin- 
dred desire  to  impart  to  others  all  the  truths  which 
one  has  received,  should  impel  every  Christian,  how- 
ever liberal  his  theology,  to  enter  on  the  large  and 
universal  Mission  to  propagate  the  truth,  or,  per- 
haps better  stated,  to  intercommunicate  the  truth. 


MISSIONS.  265 

If  we  once  get  behind  all  dogmatic  statements,  and 
have  a  realization  of  the  inner  soul  of  dogma, 
Church,  and  Book,  we  shall  find  disclosed  many  an 
inspiring  truth  which  men  will  be  glad  to  know. 

I  have  found  that  the  followers  of  other  Religions 
often  resent  our  magnifying  of  the  Christian  Reli- 
gion as  superior  to  theirs,  but  they  never  resent  an 
appeal  to  follow  the  truth.  Greater  is  their  re- 
sponse, if  they  see  that  the  truths  contained  in  their 
Religion  are  not  denied  or  condemned  by  the  teacher 
of  Christian  truth.  To  follow  a  Religion  is  to  follow 
something  specific;  to  follow  the  truth  is  to  follow 
that  which  is  universal,  unifying,  and  permanent, 
A  Religion  or  a  creed  is  only  one  way  to  exhibit  the 
essence  of  truth  as  abiding  in  God.  "No  dogma  is, 
or  has  been,  or  ever  will  be,  the  absolute  truth,  for 
the  absolute  lies  ever  beyond  the  confines  of  hum.an 
history," 

The  old  method  of  prosecuting  missions  is  either 
to  represent  Christianity  as  the  only  true  Religion, 
or,  through  a  comparison,  to  represent  its  superior- 
ity. Such  an  attitude  antagonizes  and  creates  jeal- 
ousy.   It  intensifies  rather  than  weakens  opposition. 

The  new  method  lays  stress  on  truth,  and  whilst 
certain  truths  may  be  regarded  as  more  vital  or 
fundamental  than  others,  there  is  not  the  same  rigid 
line  of  demarcation,  creating  a  mutual  antagonism. 
We  have  shown  that  unity  characterizes  Truth,  but 
the  divisive  spirit  characterizes  the  relations  be- 
tween the  great  competing  Religions. 

Principal  Garvie,  whilst  unusually  sympathetic  to 
the  thought  and  intent  of  others,  has  not  escaped 
from  the  old  attitude  to  the  new  spirit  of  what  may 


266       A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

be  called  religious  fraternity  and  equality.  At  the 
begining  of  his  article,  "The  Christian  Challenge  to 
the  other  Faiths",  he  uses  the  following  language: 
"On  the  one  hand  it  must  be  shown  that  Christianity 
is  the  absolute  religion,  meeting  adequately  and 
finally  the  necessities  and  the  aspirations  of  the  soul 
of  man ;  and  that  therefore  its  missionary  intention 
is  warranted  by  its  universal  value  for  mankind. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  needs  to  be  proved  that  what- 
ever truth  and  worth  there  may  be  in  the  other  reli- 
gions, yet  even  at  their  best  they  do  not  fully  meet 
the  religious  needs  to  which  they  bear  witness,  and 
are  still  less  capable  of  evoking  and  com_pleting  that 
higher  developm_ent  of  m.an  as  a  moral  and  spiritual 
personality  which  is  found  only  where  the  influence 
of  the  Christian  Gospel  has  been  felt,"  Towards  the 
end  he  also  says :  "It  is  easy  to  indulge  in  generali- 
ties; but  we  should  like  to  be  told  what  religious 
idea  or  moral  ideal  these  Religions  can  contribute 
which  Christianity  lacks."  Quite  likely  it  will  be 
acknowledged  that  this  sense  of  superiority  in  one*s 
own  Religion  should  not,  for  the  sake  of  prudence, 
be  made  too  prominent,  lest  it  be  taken  as  a  species 
of  self-assertion.  Still  the  idea,  if  it  is  in  the  heart, 
will  sooner  or  later  come  to  the  surface. 

The  appreciative  attitude  is  content  with  the  proc- 
lamation of  truth,  of  whatever  form,  and  whatever 
the  race  or  the  mind  which  gives  it  birth,  knowing 
that  Truth  has  a  power  all  its  own.  It  is  not  a  ques- 
tion of,  "Mine  is  better  than  thine",  but  rather,  "Let 
us  all  learn  together  from  God  as  to  the  truths  He 
has  imparted  to  each  or  to  all  of  us". 

Principal  Carvie,  speaking  of  liberal  Christianity, 


MISSIONS.  ~(j7 

says:  "I  do  not  believe  that  the  impoverished  gos- 
pel which  the  radical  criticism  leaves  us  is  adequate 
for  any  length  of  time,  amidst  the  strain  and  stress 
of  the  foreign  field,  so  much  more  severe  than  at 
home,  to  sustain  the  vitality  of  the  faith  or  the 
vigour  of  the  service  of  the  missionary."  Granting 
that  his  is  true  of  "radical  criticism",  it  is  not  true 
of  Christians  with  a  liberal  view  of  Christianity, 
appreciative  of  all  that  is  good  and  true  in  every  reli- 
gious Faith.  He  who  unreservedly  submits  to  the 
guidance  of  truth,  and  believes  its  unity  of  essence 
and  universality  of  adaptation  and  divinity  of 
origin,  is  rich  and  not  im_poverished  in  the  message 
and  mission  he  brings  to  the  men  of  other  lands  and 
other  Faiths.  He  comes  as  an  equhl  and  brother  in 
the  realm  of  truth. 


VII. 

In  the  seventh  place,  the  new  concept  of  religion 
is  to  lay  deep  the  foundation  in  universal  essentials 
and  not  attempt  to  build  on  things  distinctive  and 
unessential.  The  first  truths  are  universal  truths, 
truths  that  are  self-evidencing.  To  give  them  the 
prominence  they  deserve  is  what  the  followers  0/ 
other  Faiths  can  best  be  stirred  by,  and  to  which 
they  naturally  respond.  Because  men  already  know 
a  certain  truth  is  no  reason  for  our  refraining  from 
proclaiming  it.  What  is  probably  needed  is  its 
revival  in  one's  consciousness  by  being  re-invigor- 
ated from  the  insight  and  conviction  of  Christian 
experience.  Even  with  Christians  many  a  truth 
needs  new  emphasis.     Tt  is  easy  to  get  spiritually 


268      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

blind.  Prophets  are  needed  to  flash  in  more  light, 
and  the  physician  of  the  soul  is  needed  to  bring  back 
the  eye-sight. 

I  quote  from  Count  Okuma :  '*It  is  an  inspiring 
thought  that  the  true  religious  ideals  and  experience 
of  all  races  and  peoples  are  bound  to  persist  and  to 
form  in  time  one  noble  and  comprehensive  whole. 
The  true  and  good  will  persist,  and  the  non-essen- 
tial and  false  and  ephemeral  will  be  left  behind. 
The  races  are  at  bottom  one,  and  truth  is  one." 

So  Principal  Garvie  says :  **It  is  not  the  interest 
of  Christian  faith  to  represent  the  Christian  Reli- 
gion as  'a  bolt  from  the  blue'." 

In  laying  chief  stress  on  essentials,  the  stress  is 
laid  on  that  which  is  universal,  inherent  in  the 
teachings  and  aspirations  of  all  Religions.  This 
does  not  mean  that  every  individual  will  have  these 
common  religious  ideas  and  beliefs,  but  that  people 
in  general,  as  typified  in  the  great  Religions,  have 
certain  ideas  in  common. 

By  laying  stress  on  non-essentials,  that  is,  on  dis- 
tinctive features  of  each  Religion,  it  is  not  meant 
that  these  are  of  no  importance.  They  are  merely 
given  a  position  subsidiary  to  the  essentials.  Dr. 
Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  says :  "Great  Religions,  like 
great  men,  have  strongly  marked  distinctions, 
whereby  each  is  set  apart  from  others." 

In  certain  respects  the  distinctive  features  of  a 
Religion  are  its  most  attractive  features.  The  ten- 
dency is  for  the  advocate  of  a  particular  Religion  to 
emphasize  that  which  is  peculiar  to  his  Religion,  and 
does  not  appear  so  distinctly  in  other  Religions. 
That  which   is  exclusive  is  regarded  as  the  most 


MISSIONS.  269 

precious.  It  forms  the  reason  for  adopting  a  Reli- 
gion, seeing  that  nowhere  else  can  the  same  precious 
possession  be  found. 

The  Christian  missionary  has  heretofore  followed 
this  natural  impulse.  He  claims  superiority  for 
Christianity  because  it  has  so  many  truths  or  doc- 
trines which  other  Religions  do  not  have.  The  new 
method  is  to  place  ever  to  the  front  the  essentials 
and  universals,  and,  even  where  specific  and  distinc- 
tive truths  or  doctrines  are  to  be  taught,  to  trace 
them  back,  as  far  as  possible,  to  these  essentials  and 
universals. 

The  late  Dean  of  the  Harvard  Divinity  School,  Dr. 
Charles  C.  Everett,  in  his  book  on  "Theism  and  the 
Christian  Faith",  speaking  of  the  content  of  the 
Christian  faith,  says :  ''That  content  is  both  gen- 
eral and  special.  Of  the  doctrines  that  are  specific- 
ally Christian  we  find  that  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  there  have  been  regarded  as  fundamental, 
the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Atonement,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  Of 
these  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation  is  the  most  fun- 
damental." In  another  place,  though  himself  a  lib- 
eral religious  thinker,  he  states  forcibly  the  reason 
for  bringing  to  the  front  these  specific  Christian  doc- 
trines: ''The  shrinking  from  emphasis,  from  the 
recognition  of  the  real  perspective  in  things,  is  one 
of  the  failings  of  our  time.  If  in  studying  the  vari- 
ous forms  of  religious  feeling,  we  shall  only  make  a 
mush  of  the  whole  examination ;  we  shall  have  lost 
the  delicacy  and  accuracy  which  belong  to  any  true 
historical  study.  For  Religions  do  differ  amongst 
themselves,  they  differ  in  the  emphasis  that  is  placed 


270         A   CHRISTIANS  APPRECIATION   OF   OTHER   FAITHS. 

upon  the  various  aspects  of  the  religious  life."  We, 
too,  claim  a  real  perspective  in  things  and  differ- 
ences of  emphasis ;  only  we  place  chief  emphasis  on 
the  essentials  and  imiversals.  Even  Dr.  Everett 
makes  clear  that  Christianity  must  satisfy  "the 
three  ideas  of  the  i-eason,  unity,  goodness  and 
beauty". 

According  to  the  appreciative  attitude  to  other 
Religions,  the  three  specific  doctrines  of  Christian- 
ity, or  any  other,  are  a  moving  force  in  man's  think- 
ing, in  so  far  as  the  inner  principle  of  these  doc- 
trines,— the  life  of  an  organism — is  harmonized 
with  the  life-giving  principles  of  universal  man  or 
of  all  the  great  Religions.  It  has  been  made  clear 
that  amongst  the  universal  beliefs  of  men,  there  is 
belief  in  one  Supreme  Being,  in  His  presence  every- 
where, and  in  His  love  and  mercy.  This  belief  is 
strengthened  and  intensified  by  the  way  God  has 
manifested  His  purposes,  love,  and  spirit  in  the  man 
Christ  Jesus.  But,  this  is  the  germ  thought  of  the 
Incarnation. 

Again,  all  Religions  teach  the  supreme  duty  of 
submission  and  obedience  to  God's  will.  This  obli- 
gation is  strengthened  and  intensified  by  the  way 
Jesus  succeeded  in  doing  the  will  of  God,  and  in  the 
hour  of  trial  and  suffering,  in  submitting  to  that 
will.  But  this,  too,  is  the  germ  thought,  from  the 
human  side,  of  the  doctrine  of  Incarnation. 

Historical  facts  are  also  to  be  believed.  The  facts 
of  the  birth,  the  crucifixion,  and  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  seem  well  established.  These  are  amplified 
into  the  doctrines  of  the  Incarnation,  the  Atone- 
ment and  Immortality,  or,  rather  the  Resurrection 


MISSIONS,  271 

of  all  men.  I  have  found  that  audiences  of  non- 
Christians  respond  to  these  doctrines,  if  thus  rooted 
in  historic  facts. 

All  denominations  of  Christians  are  useful  in  that 
they  each  bring  out  into  the  light  some  special  form 
or  phase  of  Christian  truth.  So  all  the  great  Reli- 
gions have  had  their  use,  because  they  each  bring 
out  into  the  light  some  special  form  or  phase  of  uni- 
versal religious  truth.  The  Christian,  liberal  or  or- 
thodox, may  well  be  stirred  by  the  manifold  ways 
the  underlying  religious  sentiments  of  hope  and 
faith  and  love  are  given  new  vigour  and  meaning 
in  the  story  of  God*s  working  in  the  world,  as  told 
in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  whose  climax 
is  seen  in  Jesus  Christ.  What  we  wish  to  make  clear 
is  the  importance  of  taking  Christian  truth  as  the 
unfolding  of  already-existing  tiiith  inherent  in  our 
common  humanity.  On  this  head  we  close  with 
words  from  Principal  Caird:  "The  new  element 
which  Christianity  has  introduced  into  the  thought 
of  the  world  transforms,  elevates,  works  a  funda- 
mental change  in  all  the  previous  materials  of  reli- 
gious knowledge.  It  takes  up  these  materials  into 
itself,  but  it  takes  them  up  as  the  plant  takes  up 
air  and  earth,  and  moisture  and  light,  or  as  the  liv- 
ing body  takes  up  the  matter  which  constitutes  its 
food — not  transferring  them  wholesale,  but  by  its 
inward  organic  chemistry,  subduing,  disintegrating, 
reconstructing  all  that  it  receives  into  similitude 
with  its  own  nature." 


272      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

VIII. 

In  the  eighth  place,  according  to  an  appreciative 
attitude  toward  other  Religions,  the  first  thought 
will  be  to  do  good  and  to  save  rather  than  to  make 
converts  or  to  proselyte.  The  time  once  was  when 
Christian  sects  sought  to  make  converts  from  each 
other  as  to  a  truer  Faith.  Now  there  is  less  worry 
as  to  the  fate  of  those  who  believe  differently  from 
ourselves,  and  less  zeal  to  magnify  our  sect  over 
those  of  others.  There  are  some,  like  Bishop  Brent, 
who  object  to  missions  amongst  Roman  Catholics, 
if  the  purpose  is  to  induce  Catholics  to  give  up  their 
own  Church.  Viscount  Bryce  has  also  commended 
the  educational  method  of  American  missionaries 
in  Syria  and  Turkey  amongst  Moslems  as  bettei: 
than  direct  effort  at  wining  converts. 

As  a  rule,  however,  all  missionary  Societies  re- 
gard evangelization  as  synonymous  with  proselyting, 
or,  if  this  word  is  disliked  for  being  too  brusque, 
with  making  Christians.  It  is,  in  fact,  much  easier, 
as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  to  arouse  zeal  for 
one's  own  Church  or  for  the  Christian  Religion  than 
for  such  general  ideas  as  accepting  truth,  doing 
good,  helping  men,  and  saving  others.  The  new 
concept,  whilst  conscious  of  this  fact,  places  the 
work  of  making  converts  from  one  Religion  to  an- 
other below  the  duty  which  is  more  universal  and 
positive.  Dr.  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall  says:  "The 
sectarian  spirit  is  either  aggressive  or  segregative. 
In  its  aggressive  form,  it  assails  the  theological  posi- 
tion of  others  and  seeks  to  make  converts  to  its  own. 
It  compasses  sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte. 


MISSIONS.  273 

In  its  segregative  form,  the  sectarian  spirit  en- 
sconces itself  within  the  stronghold  of  orthodoxy, 
zealous  to  maintain  an  unimpaired  body  of  doctrine ; 
its  interest  is  with  its  own  affairs;  it  is  indifferent 
to  the  problems  of  criticism,  or  looks  out  upon  them 
with  disfavour  as  evidences  of  popular  unrest  which 
rashly  re-opens  questions  closed  by  authority.  The 
spirit,  once  generally  held  to  be  a  normal  expression 
of  religious  earnestness,  has  now  given  place  in 
many  quarters  to  one  in  every  respect  its  opposite. 
The  sense  of  brotherhood  in  the  truth  is  a  state  of 
mind  neither  aggressive  for  proselytism  nor  segre- 
gative for  self-protection.  It  is  full  of  activity  and 
effort,  but  there  is  nothing  in  its  activity  analogous 
to  the  zeal  of  the  sectary  to  bring  others  into  line 
with  his  opinions.  The  activity  is  wholly  on  behalf 
of  truth ;  it  represents  the  spirit  of  Isaiah's  phrase, 
'valiant  for  the  truth  upon  earth'.  It  considers  the 
truth  to  be  that  which  is  good  and  worthy  and  nec- 
essary ;  the  only  thing  that  can  satisfy  man  and  save 
the  world." 

Principal  Garvie,  whilst  unusually  sympathetic 
and  fair-minded,  closes  his  article  with  apparently 
a  defence  of  the  exclusive  character  of  Christianity. 
We  quote  his  words:  **We  shall  not  discover  the 
Gospel  by  comparing  ideas  and  ideals,  although  even 
here  Christianity  need  not  fear  the  comparison ;  but 
only  by  comparing  the  power  of  cleansing,  enlight- 
ening, and  renewing  the  soul  which  resides  in  Christ 
as  Saviour  and  Lord  with  the  influence  of  any  other 
teacher  or  master.  Can  Confucius,  Gautama,  or 
Muhammad  do  what  Christ  has  done,  and  is  doing, 
to  save  and  bless  man?    Is  the  kingdom  of  God  a 


274         A   CHRISTIANS  APPRECIATION   OF   OTHER  FAITHS. 

supernatural  reality  present  and  potent  in  human 
history?"  It  is  indeed  true  that  the  kingdom  of 
God,  viewed  as  something  larger  than  any  ecclesi- 
astical delimitation,  is  "a  supernatural  reality  pres- 
ent and  potent  in  human  history."  If  we  would 
modify  Principal  Garvie's  excellent  statement,  it 
would  be  in  tracing  "the  power  of  cleansing,  enlight- 
ening and  renewing  the  soul"  to  the  spiritual  pres- 
ence of  God  in  the  human  soul,  and  to  that  greatest 
of  all  channels  for  God's  grace  to  flow  through,  the 
personality  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  positive  method  of  bringing  God's  grace  and 
truth  into  the  world  of  humanity  was  the  method  of 
Jesus.  He  was  not  keen  on  making  converts  as  were 
the  Pharisees.  He  went  about  amongst  men  "doing 
good."  He  healed  men's  diseases,  not  on  the  condi- 
tion that  they  accept  a  new  Religion,  or  even  become 
his  disciples,  but  because  he  possessed  the  power 
and  was  under  obligation  to  use  it.  "When  he  saw 
the  multitudes,  he  had  compassion  upon  them",  and 
his  compassion  was  not  limited  by  the  question 
whether  others  had  any  compassion  or  not,  or  even 
responded  to  his  compassion.  He  helped  men  in 
every  variety  of  form,  and  the  spirit  of  helpfulness 
was  rooted  and  grounded  in  love.  His  one  desire 
was  to  save  the  world,  not  the  Israelites  only  or  the 
people  of  his  generation.  But  what  is  salvation,  as 
explained  by  another  term?  It  is  the  work  of  help- 
ing others.  Jesus'  aim  was  to  save  men  from  every- 
thing contrary  to  the  perfect  will  of  God,  whether 
the  escape  from  sin,  from  suffering,  from  disease, 
from  ignorance,  from  doubt,  from  despair,  from 
wrong  social  customs,  from  unjust  economic  condi- 


MISSIONS.  275 

tions,  or  from  anything  unsuited  to  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Reconciliation  with  God,  harmony  with  God, 
is  the  positive  and  higher  form  of  salvation.  Help- 
ing others  may  be  called  the  lower  and  human  side 
of  salvation.  But,  whatever  the  term  used,  Jesus 
did  all  he  could  for  the  good  of  others,  asking  no 
questions  as  to  their  willingness  or  refusal  to  enter 
the  Church  which  he  proposed  to  establish.  He  com- 
mitted this  high  task  to  his  followers. 

What,  then,  is  the  thought  of  the  Christian  mis- 
sionary, if  he  holds  to  the  broader  view  of  religion  ? 
He  will  say  to  himself  and  to  others :  '*God  has  com- 
mitted to  me  certain  power,  and  whatever  the  power 
be,  I  am  bound  to  use  it  for  the  good  of  others.  I 
know  truths  unknown  to  others,  and  I  perceive  the 
truth  in  a  new  light ;  I  will  tell  others  what  God  has 
revealed  to  me.  I  will  limit  my  efforts  to  no  one 
race  or  nation.  I  will  try  to  be  as  cosmopolitan  as 
Jesus  was.  Providence  permitting,  I  will  give  of 
these  blessings  to  the  people  of  China,  or  Japan,  or 
India,  or  other  lands.  I  will  give  without  stint  what 
God  has  given  to  me.'* 

I  can  imagine  nothing  more  inspiring  to  a  Chris- 
tian or  a  Christian  missionary  than  ideas  like  these. 
There  is  a  positive  message,  a  purpose  of  helpful- 
ness, a  desire  to  save,  a  Gospel  which  is  through-and- 
through  "glad  tidings",  a  constructive  and  not  de- 
structive policy,  and  a  sense  of  priority  in  the  per- 
formance of  one's  own  duty.  The  thought  of  gain- 
ing adherents,  increasing  the  Church  roll,  filling  out 
statistics,  or  destroying  by  open  or  hidden  methods 
the  power  of  other  Faiths,  is  left  in  the  background. 


276      A  christian's  appreciation  op  other  faiths. 

Here,  again,  there  is  a  true  perspective  of  values  in 
truth,  and  of  duties  in  life. 

"Freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give,"  this  is  the 
mandate  to  the  Christian  world.  Should  the  prose- 
lyting spirit  be  still  held  as  more  desirable  than  the 
positive  method  of  doing  good,  v^hatever  the  re- 
sponse or  the  result,  it  may  be  that  a  place  will  yet 
be  allowed  within  the  bounds  of  Christian  missions 
for  a  broader  view,  appreciating  other  Faiths,  and 
none  the  less  appreciating  in  an  whole-hearted  way 
the  simple  but  sublime  truths  enunciated  by  Him  of 
whom  it  was  said,  "Never  man  spake  like  this  man", 
Jesus  the  Christ,  Lord  of  the  hearts  of  men,  and 
Saviour  of  the  world. 

Only  one  word  more,  a  word  of  corroboration. 
The  International  Institute  was  organized  as  a  So- 
ciety to  include  men  and  women,  without  regard  to 
nationality,  race  or  creed.  As  no  man  is  urged  to 
change  his  allegiance  and  be  naturalized  in  some 
other  country,  so  no  man  is  urged  to  change  his  Re- 
ligion. We  have  week  by  week  our  meetings  of  all 
Religions,  conferring  together  and  learning  from 
each  other,  but  we  are  content  with  preaching  the 
truth,  as  each  one  sees  it,  or  as  the  Religion  which 
one  sees  it,  or  as  the  Religion  which  each  one  accepts 
has  made  it  known.  Our  aim  is  the  brotherhood  of 
truth,  the  concord  of  Religions,  the  universal  peace 
of  nations. 

We  now  bring  to  a  close  this  series  of  addresses 
which  we  have  been  asked  to  deliver  under  appoint- 
ment of  the  trustees  of  the  Billings  Lectureship,  and 
by  the  courtesy  of  the  American  Unitarian  Associa- 
tion.   We  are  grateful  for  the  generosity  that  has 


MISSIONS.  277 

been  extended  to  us.  No  restriction  has  been  placed 
on  our  expression  of  opinions.  We  have  been  left 
perfectly  free  in  the  choice  and  general  treatment  of 
each  subject.  We  trust  that  the  spirit  in  which  we 
have  approached  the  religious  beliefs  and  aspira- 
tions of  a  great  variety  of  thinking  men  in  East  and 
West  has  commended  itself  to  those  who  thought  it 
well  to  have  such  a  series  given  in  China.  We  have 
finished  these  lectures,  but  this  does  not  mean  that 
we  have  finished  our  studies,  still  less  that  we  now 
bring  to  an  end  the  spirit  of  appreciation  and  sym- 
pathy for  those  who  think  on  religious  problems  dif- 
ferently from  ourselves.  We  are  assured  that  many 
of  our  fellow-Christians  in  China  and  abroad  have 
seen  the  value  and  reasonableness  of  this  method  of 
approach,  and  we  hope  that  those  who  belong  to 
other  Faiths  will  likewise  in  their  attitude  to  Chris- 
tianity and  to  Christ  feel  moved  to  come  into  the 
sunlight  and  breathe  the  open  air  of  a  large  love  that 
knows  no  bounds  and  excludes  no  soul. 

'^Descend  Thou  from  above, 
Spirit  of  truth  and  love, — 

Speed  on  Thy  flight ! 
Move  o'er  the  waters*  face. 
Spirit  of  hope  and  grace, 
And  in  earth's  darkest  place 

Let  there  be  light!" 


APPENDIX  NO.  1. 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  GREAT  WAR^ 

Concord  between  different  Religions  ought  to  re- 
sult in  concord  between  nations.  Such  concord  is  at 
the  opposite  extremity  of  war,  either  religious  or 
international.  For  a  war  to  exist  today  shows  that 
something  is  lacking  in  the  particular  religion  which 
is  mostly  concerned  in  the  war. 

The  relation  of  Christianity  to  wars  in  general  is 
of  less  importance  just  now  than  a  careful  study  of 
the  relation  which  Christianity  bears  to  the  present 
great  war.  This  war  is  unparallelled  for  its  world- 
wide catastrophe.  The  war  is  more  than  a  European 
war,  it  is  a  worldwide  war.  It  began  with  a  dispute 
between  two  nations  in  the  south-east  of  Europe, 
Serbia  and  Austria-Hungary.  This  brought  in  Rus- 
sia, and  Russia  brought  in  Germany,  and  Germany 
brought  in  France,  Belgium  and  Great  Britain,  and 
Great  Britain  brought  the  war  to  all  parts  of  the 
globe,  not  only  into  all  British  Colonies  and  Posses- 
sions, but  into  regions  where  Germany  has  had  an 
interest,  or  where  her  ships  have  been  found  sailing 
on  the  seas.  Every  continent  and  every  ocean  have 
been  affected.  The  war  spirit,  like  electricity,  has 
encircled  the  globe.    From  the  North  Sea  the  war 


'The  lecture  is  printed  as  it  was  given  to  a  Chinese 
audience,  April  11,  1915.  It  may  be  that  the  ideas  will 
yet  prove  sound. 

278 


THE  GREAT  WAR.  279 

has  spread  its  havoc  to  the  extreme  southern  limits 
of  South  America.  Africa,  north  and  south,  east 
and  west,  has  heard  the  call  to  battle.  The  Atlantic, 
Pacific  and  Indian  Oceans  have  heard  the  sound  of 
cannon,  and  islands  hid  away  in  the  deep  waters 
have  passed  from  one  master  to  another.  To  the  war 
god  Japan  has  gladly  bowed  the  knee,  and  through 
her  the  war  has  swept  into  China  and  brought  about 
unexpected  complications.  For  all  this  the  great 
war  will  appear  in  a  different  light  to  him  who 
views  it  from  China  from  what  it  does  to  him  who 
views  it  in  Europe.  The  war  is  seen  here  to  be  not 
merely  a  European  war  but  an  Asiatic  war,  with 
just  the  possibility  of  becoming  more  Asiatic  than 
European.  Already,  by  the  entrance  of  Turkey  into 
the  war,  all  Western  Asia  has  been  stirred;  Persia 
has  been  affected;  Singapore  has  had  a  mutiny; 
parts  of  India  have  grown  disaffected;  all  Siberia 
has  throbbed  to  the  march  of  troops ;  and  Japan  has 
sent  forward  her  soldiers  into  strategic  centres  in 
China,  as  if  expecting  a  war  once  again  between 
these  two  nations  of  Eastern  Asia. 

No  such  war  has  ever  occurred  before;  its  blight 
rests  on  all  mankind.  Besides  being  more  wide- 
spread than  is  known  of  any  other  war,  it  stands 
forth  as  the  supreme  effort  of  the  human  mind  to 
wreak  its  vengeance  on  hostile  nations.  The  weap- 
ons of  death  are  unsurpassed  for  ferocity  and  hor- 
ror. Governments,  like  individuals,  vie  with  each 
other  in  starving  the  people  of  an  enemy's  country. 
They  seem  to  gloat  over  the  misfortunes  of  neutral 
nations.    The  angel  on  the  white  horse  flies  through 


280      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

the  air,  dives  into  the  sea,  and  rushes  with  electric 
speed  across  the  continents.  The  new  type  of  brav- 
ery is  to  face,  stolid  and  indifferent,  the  frightful- 
ness  and  barbarity  of  war,  such  as  heaven  and  earth 
have  never  seen  before. 

This  is  the  war,  then,  not  some  other  war  long 
since  passed  away,  which  we  ought  to  study  in  its 
relation  to  religion. 

The  particular  religion  most  closely  connected 
with  this  war  is  the  Christian  Religion.  Other  reli- 
gions, like  distant  peoples,  have  been  brought  in  at 
the  instigation  of  Europeans.  Moslems,  Hindus, 
Sikhs,  Buddhists  and  idolaters,  have  been  invited  to 
the  battle-fields  to  see  how  Christians  can  fight.  It 
is  a  spectacle  over  which  angels  might  weep,  and  the 
sun  once  again  hide  behind  the  clouds. 

By  the  Christian  Religion,  in  this  discussion,  we 
mean  Christianity  in  general,  for  all  branches  of  the 
Christian  Church  are  to  the  front  in  this  tragic 
scene.  The  Holy  Orthodox  Russian  Church  is  there ; 
the  Roman  Catholics  of  Austria,  Bavaria,  Belgium 
and  France,  are  all  there;  the  Reformed  Churches 
of  Prussia,  France  and  Great  Britain  are  also  there ; 
even  smaller  branches  of  the  Eastern  Church  have 
been  suddenly  swept  into  the  whirlpool  of  these 
modern  horrors  and  deepset  hatreds.  Other  religions 
have  merely  come  in  at  the  beck  and  call  of  the  Eu- 
ropean Christian.  It  is  inevitable  that  Christian 
and  non-Christian  will  stop  to  ask,  "What  relation 
has  Christianity  to  this  war?"  Nearly  every  intel- 
ligent Chinese  is  pondering  the  question,  and  is 
sorely  puzzled  as  to  the  answer.  He  not  only  fails 
to  understand  why  European  nations  should  be  so 


THE  GREAT  WAR.  281 

keen  on  killing,  but  he  still  less  understands  how  the 
entrance  of  war  into  China  and  the  way  China  is 
being  treated,  should  be  tolerated  by  advocates  of 
Christian  principles. 

Personally  I  have  no  sympathy  with  any  kind  of 
war;  people  should  have  enough  sense  and  piety  to 
get  along  without  it.  Personally  I  have  a  firm  faith 
in  the  teachings,  efficiency  and  world-wide  adaptabil- 
ity of  Christianity.  How  this  religion  and  this  war 
seem  to  be  boon  companions,  when  they  ought  to  be 
foes,  I  will  now  venture  to  express,  and  I  crave  in- 
dulgence if  my  views  appear  unsound. 

To  make  clear  the  situation,  we  need  to  distin- 
guish between  certain  elements  which  enter  into  the 
situation. 

The  first  thing  to  distinguish  is  European  civili- 
zation and  the  nations  at  war  from  Christianity. 
There  is  a  fallacy  in  calling  nations  Christian 
nations,  and  in  speaking  of  European  civilization  as 
Christian  civilization.  Five  of  the  nations  now  at 
war  have  a  State  Religion,  and  most  of  the  people  of 
these  countries  are  admitted  into  the  Church  in  in- 
fancy. But  how  far  has  the  Christian  spirit  per- 
meated these  nations?  Christ  would  find  it  hard  to 
detect  His  teachings  in  these  nations  today.  Chris- 
tian requirements  are  subsidiary  considerations.  As 
to  European  civilization,  a  larger  part  has  come 
from  Christianity,  but  Roman  law,  Greek  ideas, 
Teutonic,  Slavonic  and  other  characteristics,  and 
many  other  influences,  have  all  entered  in  to  form_ 
what  is  known  as  European  or  Western  civilization. 
To  argue  for  Christianity  by  citing  a  civilization, 
rather  than  certain  elements  in  the  civilizations,  may 


282        A  CHRISTIAN  S  APPRECIATION  OF   OTHER  FAITHS. 

sometimes  carry  weight,  and  at  other  times  prove  a 
stumbling  block. 

All  the  nations  which  have  entered  into  the  war 
did  so  without  regard  to  Christianity.  National  in- 
terests rather  than  the  behests  of  religion  compelled 
them  to  take  action.  It  was  not  till  war  was  deter- 
mined upon  that  the  aid  of  the  Church  was  sought, 
with  the  blessing  of  priest  and  pastor,  the  comforts 
of  the  sacrament  at  the  moment  of  death,  and  the 
protection  of  God  in  the  hour  of  strife  and  danger. 
War  broke  out  in  spite  of  religion;  war  was  the 
work  of  diplomats  and  the  outcome  of  m.ilitarists ; 
it  did  not  issue  forth  from  the  prayer-meeting  or  the 
early  mass.  National  interests,  not  Christian  inter- 
ests, were  of  first  consideration.  When  war  was 
made  to  appear  a  necessity  through  the  contrivance 
of  diplomats,  then  it  was  that  Christians  were  asked 
to  help,  and  as  patriotism  is  a  Christian  virtue. 
Christians  did  not  long  delay  in  rising  to  the  defence 
of  their  country.  But  the  fact  to  be  borne  in  mind 
is  that  nations  and  governments  and  a  particular 
type  of  civilization,  not  Christianity,  were  responsi- 
ble for  this  war. 

A  second  discrimination  which  is  needed  is  that 
between  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  the  spirit  of 
Christ.  The  spirit  of  Christ  is  love,  joy,  peace,  and 
righteousness.  The  spirit  of  Christ  is  one  of  su- 
preme courage,  even  courage  facing  an  ignominious 
death,  not  courage  that  hastens  into  battle.  The  im- 
pression on  unbelievers  and  the  adherents  of  other 
Faiths  is  that  Christ  is  a  supporter  of  peace,  not  of 
war.  His  patience,  forbearance,  meekness,  gentle- 
ness, longsuffering,  compassion,  love  and  forgiving 


THE  GREAT  WAR.  283 

spirit,  seem  so  incompatible  with  the  war  spirit, 
that  many  have  taught  passive  resistance  as  the 
highest  virtue.  It  often  appears  that  the  spirit  of 
Christ  is  found  less  in  the  great  State  Churches  than 
in  smaller  religious  Societies,  like  those  of  the  Mora- 
vians and  the  Friends.  As  to  the  one  question  of 
peace  or  war,  the  liberal  religious  thought  of  Christ- 
endom is  generally  on  the  side  of  peace,  whilst  the 
rigidly  orthodox  too  often  extenuate,  if  they  do  not 
actually  approve,  this  and  other  wars  of  their  own 
time  and  country. 

Very  different  from  this  spirit  of  Christ  is  the 
spirit  of  the  age.  Judging  from  the  startling  exper- 
riences  of  today,  the  spirit  of  the  age  is  the  spirit  of 
militarism.  It  dominates  not  only  Germany,  but 
France,  Russia,  the  British  Empire,  and  Japan,  and 
has  now  sprung  into  being  amongst  a  large  class  of 
thinking  Americans.  For  years  the  great  Powers 
have  groaned  under  military  and  naval  burdens,  and 
the  present  war  stands  as  good  a  chance  of  perpetu- 
ating militarism  and  armaments  as  of  bringing 
about  the  discarding  of  the  arbitrament  of  war  for 
the  reign  of  Reason. 

Between  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  the  spirit  of 
Christ  there  is  a  conflict  today,  as  to  which  shall 
win  the  allegiance  of  men's  minds  as  well  as  of  their 
hearts.  Sentiment  bows  to  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and 
Christians  who  follow  Christ  rather  than  a  Church 
are  viewed  by  men  of  the  world  as  meek  and  senti- 
mental, whilst  the  spirit  of  the  age  develops  mascu= 
line  discipline,  sound  judgement,  economic  foresight, 
and  national  independence.  The  world-wide  war  of 
today  emanates  from  this  masterful  spirit  of  the  age 


284      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

rather  than  from  the  spirit  of  the  Christ.  Whatever 
glory  the  war  has  to  bring,  let  it  all  be  given  to  this 
dominant  note  of  militarism,  to  the  strong  spirit  of 
the  modern  age,  the  spirit  which  rules  Europe  today. 
As  for  Christ,  I  fancy  He  wants  naught  of  the  glory ; 
rather  He  grieves  at  the  sight  as  He  witnesses  its 
hatreds  and  horrors  from  the  higher  realms  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God. 

A  third  discrimination  is  that  which  separates 
national  prosperity  imbued  with  Christian  princi- 
ples from  that  which  follows  the  teachings  of  the 
great  Powers  of  the  world. 

It  is  often  argued  that  China  should  adopt  Chris- 
tianity because  the  strong  and  prosperous  nations 
are  Christian,  and  because  most  of  the  peoples  of  the 
world  are  now  under  the  rule  of  Christians.  Does 
the  present  war  shew  the  desirability  of  such 
strength?  Would  the  type  of  Christianity  thus 
adopted  be  a  Christian  type  ?  Some  months  ago  this 
argument  was  an  apologetic  for  Christianity,  today 
it  is  found  somewhat  annoying. 

At  the  moment,  all  but  one  of  the  six  strong  Pow- 
ers of  Europe  are  at  war.  Strength,  power,  is  the 
key-note  of  national  prosperity.  Japan  is  prosper- 
ous, because  she  has  a  strong  army  and  navy,  whilst 
China  is  not  prosperous,  because  she  is  weak  on  the 
military  side.  According  to  these  teachers  of  the 
West  and  of  Japan,  China  can  never  be  prosperous 
and  independent  till  she,  too,  spends  millions  on  a 
mammoth  army  and  a  huge  navy.  This  is  the  kind 
of  prosperity  which  shines  forth  from  the  battle- 
fields of  Europe — countries  impoverished  and  deci- 
mated by  war. 


THE  GREAT  WAR.  285 

The  prosperity  which  results  from  Christian  prin- 
ciples as  well  as  personal  character,  is  of  a  far 
higher  type  than  that  which  depends  on  Force,  and 
brings  with  it  contentment,  quietness  and  peace. 
This  is  the  prosperity  which  we  urge  on  China, 
though  advocates  of  the  other  type  are  today  *'in  the 
saddle".  Let  the  Chinese  at  least  recognize  clearly 
that  this  forceful  type,  sure  to  result  in  war,  is  not 
akin  to  the  essential  principles  of  Christianity. 

A  fourth  matter  to  be  discriminated  is  Christian- 
ity organized  as  the  Christian  Church  and  Christi- 
anity as  a  teaching  of  truth.  Zeal  for  the  Church, 
or  for  a  particular  sect,  may  be  so  strong  as  to  over- 
look the  inner  substance  and  the  living  principle.  A 
form  may  predominate  over  the  essence.  Christi- 
anity may  even  be  exalted  into  a  State  Church,  and 
Christ  be  forgotten.  To  put  the  stress  on  one  Reli- 
gion as  opposed  to  others  will  end  in  rivalries  and 
collision.  To  put  the  stress  on  truth  as  it  comes 
from  God  and  as  Christ  lived  it,  truth  entering  into 
all  Religions  and  amongst  all  peoples,  will  unify. 
The  large  branches  of  the  Christian  Church  consist 
not  only  of  the  simple  original  truths  taught  by 
Christ  and  His  Apostles,  but  of  traditions  of  past 
ages,  of  the  decrees  of  Church  Councils,  of  creeds 
and  formularies,  which  are  as  binding  as  the  laws 
of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  The  Church  is  a  vast 
human  system  enveloping  the  living  spirit  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God. 

Bearing  in  mind  this  distinction,  we  can  see  how 
it  is  that  whilst  this  war,  as  many  wars  in  the  past, 
is  out  of  unison  with  the  underlying  truths  taught 
by  ''the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus",  yet  it  finds  sympa- 


286        A  CHRISTIAN" S  APPRECIATION   OF  OTHER  FAITHS. 

thetic  support  from  great  Church  leaders,  from 
Christianity  as  humanly  developed  in  the  life  of  na- 
tions. It  is  the  individual  Christian,  rather  than  the 
great  organized  Churches,  by  whom  the  war  is 
looked  upon  with  abhorrence.  Even  the  free- 
thinker, who  is  a  radical  religiously,  sounds  the  note 
of  loyalty  to  the  clear  utterances  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, and  turns  with  grief  from  the  fierce  conten- 
tions of  warring  nations.  The  truths  of  Christ  are 
as  clear  as  the  light  of  day,  and  their  meaning  points 
one  way,  to  "ways  of  pleasantness  and  to  paths  of 
peace". 

As  a  deduction  from  this  distinction  is  another 
important  distinction,  that  between  Christian  truth 
and  Christ.  Not  only  is  the  Christian  Church  un- 
equal to  Christian  truths,  but  Christian  truths  are 
unequal  to  Christ.  It  is  possible  for  the  Church  to 
enter  enthusiastically  into  the  war,  though  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity  may  appear  at  variance.  It  is 
even  possible  for  Christian  principles  to  be  accepted, 
and  yet  allow  them  to  remain  in  abeyance  under  the 
orders  of  one's  Government  and  the  laws  of  the 
State.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  the  perfect  stand- 
ard is  found  in  Christ,  when  His  life  and  spirit  are 
absorbed,  and  when,  true  to  His  words,  the  resolu- 
tion is  made  to  do  the  will  of  God,  then  vitality  and 
dynamic  power  enter  into  truth  and  into  the  accept- 
ance of  truth.  The  critic,  who  abhors  war,  and  es- 
pecially the  present  war,  may  be  dissatisfied  with 
the  doings  of  the  Churches,  and  may  be  puzzled  with 
the  various  interpretations  of  Christian  truth,  but 
the  example  of  Jesus  the  Christ  will  pass  before  his 
vision  as  the  ''one  altogether  lovely",  full  of  charm, 


THE  GREAT  WAR.  287 

complete  and  satisfying.  Interpreting  that  life  in  a 
natural  sense,  we  can  safely  say  that  war  receives 
from  Him  no  countenance,  and  that  peace  in  its  sub- 
limest  form  is  personified  in  Him. 

Only  one  passage  in  the  Gospels  has  sometimes 
been  construed  as  countenancing  war,  and  that  is 
where  Christ  said  that  He  came  *'not  to  bring  peace 
but  a  sword".  Interpreting  these  words  by  the  gen- 
eral trend  of  His  teachings  and  the  evident  purpose 
of  His  life,  we  must  regard  these  words  as  merely 
indicating  that  His  followers  would  certainly  meet 
opposition  and  hostility,  and  that  suffering,  even 
from  the  sword,  rather  than  peace,  awaited  His 
faithful  ones.  It  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Christ's 
life  to  suppose  that  He  purposed  or  desired  to  bring 
about  war.  The  duty  of  enduring  sore  trials,  per- 
secution and  the  martyr's  death,  is  very  different 
from  encouraging  war,  whether  between  Religions 
or  nations.  Beyond  a  doubt  Christ  stands  forth  as 
a  Prince  of  Peace  not  as  a  man  of  war. 

Thus,  should  the  Christian  Church,  in  any  of  its 
branches,  or  should  any  of  the  Church's  teachings 
and  dogmas,  actually  favour  war,  and  particularly 
the  present  war,  it  is  due  to  Christ  to  recognize  His 
supreme  personality  as  the  perfection  of  love,  peace 
and  good  will. 

There  remains  a  sixth  distinction  and  that  is  that, 
though  the  mass  of  the  people  and  their  rulers  in 
Europe  are  Christians,  and  in  the  main  have  been 
opposed  to  war,  yet  through  the  action  of  Govern- 
ments the  war  was  unavoidable.  It  is  a  fallacy  to 
think  that  because  the  people  of  a  country  are  Chris- 
tian, and  the  ruler  Christian,  every  action  of  the 


288      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

government  or  the  ruler  will  necessarily  be  Chris- 
tian. Nations  in  their  international  competition 
must  be  governed  by  self-interest,  or,  speaking  more 
correctly,  by  the  purpose  to  protect  the  interests  of 
the  whole  country  and  all  the  people.  Thus  in  the 
present  war  the  Emperors  of  Russia,  Austria  and 
Germany  and  the  Kings  of  England  and  Belgium  are 
Christian  men.  The  Kaiser  is  even  a  devoted  fol- 
lower of  orthodox  Christianity.  Personally  every 
one  of  these  men  probably  prefers  peace  to  war. 
They  would  do  nothing  to  cast  discredit  on  the  Sav- 
iour of  the  world.  But  the  conditions  existing  be- 
tween one  nation  and  another  have  been  such  that 
one  after  another  of  these  nations  and  of  their  rul- 
ers has  been  forced  into  war,  and  all  under  the  idea 
of  national  self-preservation  or  out  of  loyalty  to 
some  binding  contract.  Only  gradually  can  the  re- 
lations between  nations  become  such  that  some  gen- 
eral principle,  as  enunciated  in  international  law, 
will  be  accepted  by  all,  with  no  infringement  of  na- 
tional rights  and  interests.  A  Hague  Peace  Confer- 
ence, with  its  provisions  for  arbitration,  and  finally 
with  the  establishment  of  an  international  judicial 
Court,  will  make  it  possible  for  Christ  to  rule  rulers, 
with  no  danger  to  national  existence.  The  abandon- 
ment of  individual  selfishness  and  of  national  selfish- 
ness, all  nations  progressing  alike,  without  clash  of 
war,  is  the  ultimate  out-come  of  development  under 
Christian  influences  and  is  nearer  today  than  ever  in 
the  past.  The  present  European  war  is  a  stage  in 
the  development,  and  not  so  far  as  some  think  from 
this  goal  to  which  the  whole  creation  moves. 

With  these  six  kinds  of  distinctions,  we  are  better 


THE  GREAT  WAR.  289 

able  to  understand  what  is  the  real  relation  of  the 
Christianity  of  Christ  to  the  awful  war  now  being 
waged  throughout  the  world,  and  in  which  Chris- 
tian peoples  are  taking  part  with  relentless  fury. 

This  war  in  Europe  is  the  first  general  one  for  a 
century.  In  the  century  before,  hardly  a  year 
passed  but  armies  were  marching  to  and  fro 
throughout  the  whole  of  Europe.  This  war  is  so 
ghastly  and  so  calamitous,  that  men  will  desire  rest 
not  only  for  a  century  but  perhaps  till  the  end  of  the 
world.  The  forces  of  peace  will  get  together  as 
never  before  and  have  a  chance  to  apply  the  highest 
wisdom  to  the  prevention  of  war. 

Men's  efforts  prove  futile.  Their  best  desires  get 
checkmated.  Peace  amongst  the  nations  might 
never  come,  if  only  man  was  in  the  problem.  But 
God  reigns,  and  his  breath  breathed  into  human 
lives  will  vivify  the  hopeless  cause.  We  look  for  the 
return  of  Christ,  not  perhaps  as  the  ascended  Naza- 
rene,  but  as  a  Spirit  of  Power  and  Love,  and  He  will 
change  the  course  of  history. 

If  China  wants  to  learn,  let  her  learn  not  the  form 
of  Christianity  now  being  displayed  in  the  European 
war,  but  the  form  lived  by  "the  meek  and  lowly 
Jesus",  whose  personal  character  stands  forth  blame- 
less. 


APPENDIX  NO.  2 

RELIGION  AND  THE  BROTHERHOOD 
OF  NATIONS^ 

In  the  series  of  addresses  which  we  have  been 
giving  at  the  International  Institute  from  Sunday 
to  Sunday  by  arrangements  made  with  the  Billings 
Lectureship  of  Unitarian  Christians  in  Boston,  we 
have  dwelt  on  the  importance,  the  worth,  and  the 
fascination,  of  bringing  about  the  spirit  of  con- 
cord and  conciliation  between  one  Religion  and  an- 
other or  between  different  schools  of  religious 
thought  within  the  same  great  Religion.  Our 
method  has  been  to  express  appreciation  of  others 
and  others'  creeds.  Whilst  fairness  united  with 
friendliness,  and  friendliness  united  with  fairness, 
are  difficult  to  attain  in  discussions  of  religion,  the 
general  result  of  our  conferences  has  been  most  sat- 
isfactory. Mutual  good-will  amongst  persons  of  re- 
ligious conviction  is  by  no  means  an  impossibility. 

It  has  generally  been  supposed  that  concord  and 
conciliation  amongst  nations  was  more  within  our 
reach  than  concord  and  conciliation  amongst  Reli- 
gions. The  present  great  war  in  Europe — or  rather 
on  all  the  continents  of  the  globe — has  knocked  on 
the  head  many  a  beautiful  theory  as  to  peace  on 
earth  or  good-will  to  men,  to  say  nothing  of  glory 


'What  was  said  in  Shanghai,  China,  October  3rd.  1915, 
remain  for  the  most  part  my  thoughts  in  1921 — G.  R. 

290 


BROTHERHOOD.  291 

to  the  God  and  Father  of  all.  The  pendulum  of  the 
world's  thought  has  swung  far  over  to  the  other  side 
from  that  of  international  conciliation  and  univer- 
sal brotherhood  of  a  few  years  ago.  Even  Christians 
are  growing  pessimistic ;  if  not  actually  pessimistic, 
too  many  are  cultivating  the  spirit  of  hate,  in  their 
relations  to  warring  foes.  Some  in  their  hearts  are 
inclined  to  believe  that  Christ's  ideal  is  only  an  ideal 
and  not  practicable  for  the  rest  of  humanity.  The 
joys  of  international  and  religious  fellowship  have 
for  the  moment  ceased;  the  old  songs  of  trust  and 
charity,  if  sung  at  all,  rise  from  the  lips  with  the 
self-consciousness  of  insincerity.  Something  more 
martial  suits  the  times  better.  We  are  again  singing 
the  Psalms  of  David,  especially  those  that  are  be- 
yond a  doubt  imprecatory.  The  thirteenth  chapter 
of  First  Corinthians  does  not  now  extend  beyond 
one's  nation  and  its  allies.  Possibly  the  neutral 
comes  in  on  the  outskirts  of  this  affection.  The 
enemy  is  wrong,  and  we  are  right,  of  this  there  can 
be  no  dispute.  When  wrong  exists,  we  must  be  just 
in  any  case,  so  it  is  argued,  and  if  we  love  at  all,  we 
may  love  afterwards,  when  the  sinner  is  penitent. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  well,  in  these  days  when  the 
ties  between  men  and  nations  are  being  broken, 
when  dark  clouds  rest  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  if  the 
method  of  appreciation,  applied  so  effectively  to  the 
great  religions,  were  also  applied  to  the  great  na- 
tions, to  republics,  kingdoms  and  empires.  At  pres- 
ent we  content  ourselves  with  the  true  significance 
of  nationalism  and  internationalism,  of  patriotism 
and  brotherhood,  of  loyalty  to  one's  own  government 
and  devotion  to  the  federation  of  the  world,  and  then 


292      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

we  touch  on  the  bearings  of  a  general  religious  senti- 
ment, no  matter  the  name  of  the  religion,  upon  these 
two  opposing  tendencies  in  the  political  and  social 
life  of  our  common  humanity. 

Patriotism  is  a  virtue  which  for  many  centuries 
has  been  looked  upon  by  many  peoples  as  the  su- 
preme virtue.  Internationalism,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  an  idea  which  human  minds  are  just  beginning  to 
understand,  a  virtue  which  is  only  slightly  appreci- 
ated and  is  seldom  made  supreme.  The  true  relation 
between  these  two  virtues  is  not  clearly  determined, 
and  many  fail  to  see  how  the  one  can  be  cherished 
without  excluding  the  other. 

First,  then,  the  virtue  of  patriotism,  the  concep- 
tion of  nationalism.  Whilst  familiar  to  us  in  the 
West,  it  has  been  said  there  is  no  word  for  patriot- 
ism in  the  Chinese  language.  True  there  is  no  one 
word  or  character,  but  there  has  always  been  the 
idea,  expressed  in  many  apt  phrases,  whilst  of  late 
years  a  new  expression  has  come  into  being,  whose 
meaning  is  ''love  of  country".  Its  affinity  to  the 
dearest  ties  is  seen  in  the  word  ''fatherland",  used 
by  Greeks  and  Romans,  Germans  and  French,  in 
the  phrase  "mother  country",  used  by  the  British, 
and  in  the  phrase  "one  family"  used  by  the  Chinese. 

The  quality  of  love  or  affection  for  one's  country 
has  never  been  the  predominant  note  in  the  Chinese 
conception  of  duty  to  the  State.  It  is  a  conception 
which  has  come  largely  through  the  Chinese  living 
abroad,  being  strangers  in  a  strange  land,  and  then 
returning  to  the  home  land.  It  is  a  quality  which 
is  spreading  amongst  the  Chinese  more  and  more, 
as  they  are  able  to  take  part  in  the  affairs  of  govern- 


BROTHERHOOD.  293 

ment.  That  which  brings  into  being  this  element 
of  patriotism  is  the  idea  of  democracy. 

The  typical  characteristic  of  Chinese  patriotism, 
a  characteristic  observed  in  all  forms  of  patriotism, 
is  loyalty.  This  applies  not  only  to  the  official  in  his 
attitude  to  the  head  of  the  nation,  be  he  President, 
King  or  Emperor,  but  to  each  individual  in  his  rela- 
tion to  the  Government.  "Make  loyalty  and  fidelity 
supreme"  was  the  teaching  of  Confucius.  Of  late 
years  the  revolutionary  spirit  has  meant  love  of 
country  without  loyalty  to  the  Government  or  the 
Ruler.  In  the  final  outcome,  it  will  be  found  that  the 
only  patriotism  which  can  compete  with  the  patriot- 
ism of  people  of  other  countries  is  that  which  has 
the  stability  of  loyalty  as  well  as  the  fervour  of  affec- 
tion. 

Another  element  of  patriotism,  whatever  the  peo- 
ple, is  the  willingness  to  render  service,  make  sacri- 
fices, and  even  to  die,  for  the  country.  In  times  of 
peace,  this  means  faithful  performance  of  duty, 
with  the  laudable  ambition  to  enhance  the  glory  and 
prestige  of  one's  country.  If  the  Chinese  have  ap- 
peared lacking  in  this  quality  it  is  because  they 
have  had  no  part  in  government.  In  times  of  war, 
this  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  the  State 
may  mean  service  on  the  battle-field.  In  the  latter 
case  there  often  arises  the  dilemma,  as  to  whether 
the  fighting  is  in  defence  of  one's  country  or  is  for 
aggression  and  conquest.  If  it  be  the  latter,  then 
patriotism  as  a  virtue  is  brought  into  comparison 
with  some  other  virtue,  which  dominates  all,  such  as 
devotion  to  Right  and  loyalty  to  Truth.  Many  a 
time  in  the  history  of  nations  have  individual  con- 


294      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

sciences,  when  allowed  individual  liberty,  exhibited 
patriotism,  heroism,  and  self-sacrifice  of  the  highest 
type,  in  refusing  to  fight  on  the  field  of  battle,  and 
in  daring  to  defend  in  the  presence  of  cynicism  and 
scorn  the  Higher  Law  of  God. 

"Once  to  every  man  and  nation  comes  the  moment  to 

decide. 
In  the  strife  of  Truth  with  Falsehood,  for  the  good 

or  evil  side." 

A  distinguished  American,  William  Everett, 
speaking  at  Harvard  University  in  1900,  has  used 
the  strongest  language  in  stating  his  conception  of 
duty,  and  of  patriotism  as  one  form  of  duty.  He 
said:  ''Granting  war  is  sometimes  necessary,  if  it 
is  ever  engaged  in  for  any  cause  less  than  necessary, 
it  is  wrong ;  and  the  country  is  wrong  that  engages 
in  it.  If  any  country,  your  or  mine,  is  in  the  wrong, 
it  is  our  duty  as  patriots  to  say  so,  and  not  support 
the  country  we  love  in  a  wrong,  because  our  coun- 
trymen have  involved  her  in  it.  In  the  War  of  our 
Revolution,  when  Lord  North  had  the  King  and  vir- 
tually the  country  with  him.  Fox  lamented  that 
Howe  had  won  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  and  wished 
he  had  lost  it.  What !  an  Englishman  wish  an  Eng- 
lish army  to  be  defeated?  Yes,  because  England 
was  wrong ;  and  Fox  knew  it  and  said  so." 

Thus  we  come  to  the  point  that  one  must  indeed 
be  always  patriotic,  in  the  sense  of  loving  his  coun- 
try, but  one  is  not  of  necessity  compelled  to  favour 
war  as  against  peace.  To  do  one's  duty,  though  in 
a  minority,  is  often  the  truest  patriotism. 

Right  here  it  is  easy  to  turn  our  thoughts  from 


BROTHERHOOD.  295 

nationalism  to  consider  internationalism  and  from 
patriotism  to  the  idea  of  universal  brotherhood,  for 
it  will  be  seen  that  they  both  unite  in  devotion  to 
truth  and  a  Higher  Law. 

Fraternity  is  a  conception  which  had  its  birth  far 
back  amongst  all  civilized  peoples,  but  Internation- 
alism is  a  new  word  and  a  new  idea.  It  represents 
co-operation  on  a  universal  scale.  It  recognizes 
competition  the  world  round.  It  is  one  form  of  uni- 
versal peace,  not  by  eliminating  national  distinc- 
tions, but  by  adjusting  relations  between  one  nation 
and  another.  Internationalism  is  the  practical  em- 
bodiment of  an  ideal  conception  of  human  brother- 
hood. It  recognizes  the  unity  of  the  race,  as  it  came 
from  the  heart  of  God,  and  as  the  goal  towards 
which  the  world  moves.  Above  is  the  one  God  and 
Father  of  all,  and  below  are  brother  men.  Human- 
ity is  one  family.  The  Chinese  have  two  sayings: 
"All  under  heaven  are  one  family,"  and  ''Within 
the  four  Seas  all  are  brothers."  There  are  ties  of 
affection,  of  culture,  of  commerce,  of  postal  com- 
munication, of  telegraphy,  of  religious  sentiment,  of 
humanitarian  aspiration,  and  of  social  intercourse, 
which  bind  men  together  in  utter  disregard  of  mere 
national  demands.  The  globe  has  grown  smaller, 
and  earth's  inhabitants  draw  nearer  and  nearer  to 
each  other.  Men  of  one  country  learn  from  those  of 
another,  and  our  personal  friends  include  all  climes 
and  all  nations.  The  one  who  travels  much  is  cos- 
mopolitan, and  the  cosmopolitan  spirit  exhilarates, 
just  as  the  insular  spirit  dries  up  the  sympathies 
and  deadens  even  religion.  To  live  abroad  and  min- 
gle with  other  people  liberalizes,  and  makes  living 


296      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

a  joy.  When  in  1900  a  little  company  of  many  na- 
tions were  besieged  in  Peking,  they  took  pleasure  in 
breaking  up  into  different  groups,  each  group  sing- 
ing its  own  national  anthem. 

To  be  at  peace  with  each  other  is  to  set  into  action 
the  international  mind.  To  be  at  war  puts  a  cleav- 
age deep  down  into  this  globe  of  ours,  and  sometimes 
right  up  into  the  heavens. 

Out  here  in  the  Far  East  we  have  had  in  mind 
for  years  something  of  the  same  kind  of  interna- 
tional co-operation,  first  in  an  Institute  of  learning, 
and  then  in  a  Museum  and  Library.  Just  for  the 
moment,  the  international  idea  is  under  a  cloud  and 
is  subject  to  scorn.  War  has  over-shadowed  every- 
thing. 

At  heart  all  men,  with  any  religious  sentiment 
whatever,  are  opposed  to  war.  The  excuse  for  war 
is  that  it  is  one  of  defence ;  sometimes  it  is  said,  that 
it  is  for  humanity's  sake.  Such  impressions  make 
it  easier  to  fight  "in  all  good  conscience".  The  in- 
ternational mind  is  only  held  in  abeyance;  it  is  not 
completely  destroyed  by  the  havoc  of  the  battle-field. 
It  even  occurs  that  warriors  become  so  sickened  of 
shot  and  shell,  of  shrapnel  and  bombs,  of  wounds 
and  bloodshed,  that  the  end  of  the  war  is  eagerly 
awaited,  and  enemies  quickly  become  friends.  The 
warrior  is  after  all  international  in  his  inner  im- 
pulse. 

Sometimes  the  patriot  retains  his  international 
feelings  by  refusing  to  join  in  war,  or  at  least  by 
deeply  regretting  the  necessity  of  war. 

The  call  of  duty,  the  mandate  of  the  Higher  Law, 
making  the  patriot  to  stand  aside,  when  his  coun- 


BROTHERHOOD.  297 

try  goes  to  war,  is  none  the  less  a  patriot.  The  man 
of  true  international  feelings  cannot  but  pray  for 
the  overthrow  of  war  and  all  its  accompanying  evils, 
and  for  the  reign  of  peace  and  justice. 

Thus  both  patriotism  and  internationalism  draw 
near  to  each  other,  as  they  bow  to  the  supremacy  of 
God's  way,  that  of  peace  and  righteousness.  As 
they  bow  before  the  highest  and  the  best,  they  clasp 
hands  and  vow  to  defend  the  other.  The  spirit  of 
nationalism  and  the  spirit  of  internationalism  are 
not  mutually  antagonistic,  but  mutually  helpful. 

Nationalism  represents  independence,  and  inde- 
pendence is  essential  to  national  sovereignty.  In- 
ternationahsm  represents  inter-dependence,  and  this 
is  essential  to  human  brotherhood. 

There  have  been  those  who  have  proposed  some 
kind  of  international  congress,  that  international- 
ism may  have  more  than  an  academic  value,  and  that 
war  may  be  averted.  This  means  more  than  an  in- 
ternational Court  of  Justice,  and  much  more  than 
an  international  Court  of  Arbitration,  both  of  which 
will  be  the  fruits  of  the  Hague  Peace  Conferences. 
In  time  the  idea  of  various  national  representatives 
deciding  questions  of  common  interest  will  no  doubt 
grow,  without  in  any  way  infringing  on  the  rights 
of  nationality.  As  bearing  on  this  matter  the  words 
of  Dr.  Trueblood,  secretary  of  the  American  Peace 
Society,  may  be  quoted :  "National  sovereignty  and 
independence  are  not  absolute,  and  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  the  case  cannot  be.  The  nations  are  mem- 
bers of  'the  family  of  nations',  and  the  governments 
are  compelled,  in  various  important  matters  of  com- 
mon concern,  to  take  counsel  of  one  another,  or,  in 


298         A   CHRISTIANS  APPRECIATION    OF   OTHER   FAITHS. 

other  words,  to  exercise  a  joint  sovereignty  which  is 
beyond  the  field  of  national  sovereignty,  and  which 
no  nation  can  exercise  alone." 

There  is  too  often  a  misconception,  that  to  have 
the  international  mind  is  to  work  against  one's  own 
country  and  to  be  ashamed  of  one's  own  people.  In 
commercial  matters,  especially,  international  com- 
petition, or  rather  competition  between  two  or  three 
nations,  has  become  so  intense  that  the  destruction 
of  the  trade  of  some  other  country,  and  hostility  to 
the  people  of  that  country,  denotes  high  patriotism. 
The  end  is  war,  with  the  collapse  of  trade,  of  both 
friend  and  foe.  The  international  mind  has  no  need 
of  war,  and  recognizes  that  the  prosperity  of  other 
countries  does  not  mean  the  downfall  of  one's  own 
country.  Professor  Lecky,  in  his  ''Rationalism  in 
Europe",  has  said :  "The  conceptions  that  the  inter- 
ests of  adjoining  nations  are  diametrically  opposed, 
that  wealth  can  only  be  gained  by  displacement,  and 
that  conquest  is  therefore  the  chief  path  to  progress, 
were  long  universal;  but  during  the  last  century 
political  economy  has  been  steadily  subverting  them, 
and  the  time  will  come  when  a  policy  of  territorial 
aggrandizement  will  be  impossible." 

The  failure  to  recognize  this  possibility  and  desir- 
ability of  international  co-operation  has,  to  my 
mind,  been  the  primal  cause  of  the  present  disas- 
trous war  in  Europe,  embracing  five  continents.  If 
blame  is  to  be  given,  or  if  any  country  is  to  be 
declared  innocent,  blame  and  innocence  may  alike 
be  extended  to  all.  By  each  overstepping  the  mark 
just  a  little,  and  through  lack  of  confidence  in  the 


BROTHERHOOD.  299 

compatibility  of  internationalism  with  nationalism, 
the  cataclysm  has  come. 

It  is  indeed  true  that  all  peace  efforts  have  failed 
to  ward  off  this  last  great  war  of  Europe,  which 
many  have  for  years  feared  was  coming,  and  it  is 
also  true  that  peace  arguments  are  treated  with  de- 
rision, and  that  pacifists  are  more  than  ever  treated 
as  foolish  dreamers.  When  the  war  is  over  and  mill- 
ions bear  burdens  never  borne  before,  then  once 
again  there  will  spring  in  the  breast  a  desire  for 
peace  between  all  nations  and  all  governments  will 
proceed  with  new  vigour  to  plan  the  prevention  of 
war. 

Genius  is  needed  as  much  in  devising  peace  meas- 
ures as  in  military  strategy.  Courage,  too,  is  as 
much  a  necessity  in  the  peaceful  employments  of 
trade  as  on  the  battle-field.  Heroism  will  not  die 
out,  when  war  has  died  away.  A  college-bred  man 
fighting  in  the  Cuban  war  truly  said :  ''It  was  much 
easier  for  me  to  face  Spanish  bullets  in  one  exciting 
charge  than  to  face  a  bribe  of  $10,000  a  year  to  give 
my  knowledge  of  law  to  a  nefarious  enterprise." 

Through  the  study  of  the  measures  of  interna- 
tional peace  which  has  been  given  by  men  of  science, 
especially  the  science  of  jurisprudence,  the  cause  of 
peace  has  been  lifted  above  the  basis  of  mere  good- 
feeling,  however  important  and  agreeable  good-feel- 
ing always  is,  up  to  the  basis  of  clear,  untarnished 
righteousness.  Only  by  learning  to  deal  with  each 
other  fairly,  to  consider  questions  in  a  judicial  tem- 
per and  so  in  a  brave  spirit,  can  we  learn  to  be  at 
peace  with  each  other,  and  be  true  friends  to  each 
other.     National  bias  must  give  place  to  interna- 


300      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

tional  justice.  Without  this  there  will  certainly  be 
mutual  bickerings  and  contemptuous  accusations 
liable  to  flare  up  into  the  blaze  of  actual  war.  The 
Bible  was  first  pure  and  then  peaceable."  Dr. 
Lyman  Abbott  has  said  truthfully:  "Enduring 
peace  is  possible  only  when  it  is  the  peace  of  justice. 
The  blow  of  the  fist,  gleam  of  the  sword,  and  the 
roar  of  the  cannon,  will  continue  until  some  other 
power  than  that  of  the  armed  man  is  found  to  pro- 
tect innocence  from  injustice.  With  the  convening 
of  The  Hague  Conference  in  1899  there  was  wrought 
into  the  consciousness  of  mankind  a  better  plan 
than  war  for  establishing  justice  between  the  na- 
tions." This  quality  of  justice,  daring  to  do  right 
and  be  right,  is  no  namby-pamby  kind  of  thing  as 
peacefulness  is  misrepresented  as  being.  Peace 
when  solidified  in  justice  is  as  sterling  a  quality  as 
the  martial  spirit  that  looks  for  blood  and  shrinks 
not  from  it. 

The  benefits  of  this  exalted  cause  that  seeks  to 
bind  nations  together  in  true  fraternity,  are  beyond 
compute.  The  horrors,  the  calamity,  the  folly,  the 
madness,  of  the  present  war  in  Europe,  which  the 
cause  of  peace  and  justice  and  all  The  Hague  Con- 
ferences have  been  powerless  to  check,  are  also  be- 
yond compute.  When  General  Grant  was  offered  a 
military  review  by  the  Duke  of  Cambridge,  he  de- 
clined, saying:  "I  do  not  wish  to  look  on  another 
regiment  of  soldiers."  It  was  Wellington  who  wrote, 
"If  you  had  seen  but  one  day  of  war,  you  would  pray 
God  you  might  never  see  another."  Perhaps  the  su- 
preme horror  of  the  present  war  will  be  the  means. 


BROTHERHOOD.  301 

and  the  only  means,  of  self-defence  along  paths  of 
peace. 

This  international  peace  idea  and  the  progress 
made  are  very  largely  due  to  the  new  spirit  brought 
into  the  world  by  Christ,  and  to  the  fundamental 
principles  which  he  taught  to  his  disciples.  As  to 
the  attitude  of  Christ  on  this  matter  there  is  no  dis- 
pute. The  early  Christians  for  the  first  two  cen- 
turies showed  the  same  spirit,  and  in  nearly  every 
case  refused  to  enter  the  army  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
From  these  early  days  down  to  the  present  this 
spirit  of  Christ  has  been  in  constant  conflict  with  the 
militant  spirit  of  powerful  nations.  Christ  has  stood 
for  peace;  the  Church  too  often  has  stood  for  war. 
John  Ruskin  has  said,  'The  Christianity  which  we 
have  been  taught  for  2,000  years  is  still  so  little  con- 
ceived by  us,  that  we  suppose  the  laws  of  charity 
and  self-sacrifice  bear  upon  individuals  in  all  their 
social  relations,  and  yet  do  not  bear  upon  nations  in 
their  political  relations."  And  so  Whittier,  in  an 
unusual  tone  of  irony,  sings : 

"Rosy  and  sleek,  the  sable-gowned  divine. 

O'er  his  third  bottle  of  suggestive  wine. 

To  plumed  and  sworded  auditors  shall  prove. 

Their  trade  accordant  with  the  law  of  Love, 

And  Church  for  State,  and  State  for  Church,  shall 

fight. 
And  both  agree  that  Might  alone  is  Right.*' 

Whilst  the  war  still  rages,  and  human  lives  are 
still  oflfered  on  the  altar  of  what  each  believes  to  be 
the  truth,  and  misery  increases  from  day  to  day,  it 
is  well  for  us  to  heed  the  appeal  of  the  Supreme 


302         A   CHRISTIANS   APPHECIATION    OF   OTHER   FAITHS. 

Pontiff  that  the  clash  of  arms  give  place  to  kindly 
greeting  from  friend  to  friend  and  brother  to 
brother.  Each  nation  must  have  its  equal  chance  in 
the  industrial,  commercial  and  financial  contests  of 
the  whole  world,  and  the  genius  and  scholarship  of 
one  must  supplement  the  attainments  of  others. 
Seeking  to  exclude  any  nation  or  any  race,  from 
world-wide  pursuits,  or  in  planning  to  overstep  the 
boundaries  of  other  nations  and  to  occupy  their  ter- 
ritory, may  be  called  patriotism,  though  of  a  very 
poor  type,  but  it  cannot  be  called  internationalism, 
still  less  Christian  brotherhood.  When  the  compli- 
cated problems  of  the  nations  now  at  war  are  finally 
settled,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  boundaries  of  each 
nation  as  then  determined  will  henceforth  be  re- 
garded as  sacred,  and  no  people  need  fear  attack 
from  any  other.  Politically  all  nations  are  to  be 
satisfied  with  their  own,  and  not  to  covet  the  prop- 
erty or  territory  of  each  other;  they  are  to  limit 
themselves  to  their  own.  In  all  other  respects — in 
commerce,  industry,  education,  religion,  travel  and 
social  enjoyments  on  land  and  on  sea — the  whole 
world  is  to  be  the  free  channel  for  each  and  all; 
there  are  to  be  no  limits.  By  thus  discriminating 
the  self-imposed  limitations  of  national  sovereignty, 
and  the  boundless  scope  for  every  individual,  can  in- 
ternationalism become  a  working  theory. 

The  British  Prime  Minister,  Mr.  Asquith,  some 
months  ago  gave  utterance  to  some  excellent  advice 
as  to  the  mutual  obligations  of  great  and  small  na- 
tions. Though  possibly  his  expressions  imply  guilt 
on  the  part  of  some  and  innocence  on  the  part  of 
England,  yet  the  main  idea  of  this  distinguished 


BROTHERHOOD.  303 

statesman  must  win  the  assent  of  all  who  think  seri- 
ously of  problems  which  are  universal  in  their  mean- 
ing and  operation.    I  quote  his  words : — 

"Forty-four  years  ago,  at  the  time  of  the  war  of 
1870,  Mr.  Gladstone  used  these  words.  He  said,  'The 
greatest  triumph  of  our  time  will  be  the  enthrone- 
ment of  the  idea  of  public  right  as  the  governing 
idea  of  European  politics.'  Nearly  fifty  years  have 
passed.  Little  progress,  it  seems,  has  yet  been  made 
toward  that  good  and  beneficent  change,  but  it  seems 
to  me  to  be  now,  at  this  moment,  as  good  a  definition 
as  we  can  have  of  our  European  policy. 

"Belgium,  Holland,  and  Switzerland,  the  Scandi- 
navian countries,  Greece,  and  the  Balkan  States, — 
they  must  be  recognized  as  having  exactly  as  good 
a  title  as  their  more  powerful  neighbours, — more 
powerful  in  strength  as  in  wealth, — exactly  as  good 
a  title  to  a  place  in  the  sun.  And  it  means,  finally, 
or  it  ought  to  mean,  perhaps  by  a  slow  and  gradual 
process,  the  substitution  for  force,  for  the  clash  of 
competing  ambitions,  for  groupings  and  alliances 
and  a  precarious  equipoise,  the  substitution  for  all 
these  things  of  a  real  European  partnership,  based 
on  the  recognition  of  equal  right  and  enforced  by  a 
common  will.  A  year  ago  that  would  have  sounded 
like  a  Utopian  idea.  It  is  probably  one  that  may  not 
or  will  not  be  realized  either  today  or  tomorrow." 

It  is,  too,  our  hope  that  this  high  ideal  will  be 
realized,  and  that  the  nations  of  Asia  as  well  as  of 
Europe  and  America  will  come  into  the  full  posses- 
sion of  these  rights,  inalienable  and  unalterable. 

Nationalism  and  internationalism  are  both  in  har- 
mony with  the  religious  sentiment.     We  have  only 


304      A  christian's  appreciation  of  other  faiths. 

time  to  cite  the  teaching  of  Christianity.  The  Apos- 
tle Paul,  preaching  on  Mars*  Hill  in  Athens  to  Greek 
philosophers,  enunciated  this  statement,  to  which 
the  Confucianist  can  well  subscribe:  ''God  hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men,  for  to  dwell 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  hath  determined  the 
times  before  appointed,  and  the  bounds  of  their  hab- 
itation.' Here  there  are  two  legitimate  conditions 
under  which  humanity  is  placed,  the  condition  of 
worldwide  brotherhood,  and  the  condition  of  na- 
tional limitations,  determined  by  God,  and  of  na- 
tional obligation  to  self-defence,  likewise  from  God's 
will.  If  one  nation  is  to  be  content  with  its  own 
God-given  inheritance,  without  encroaching  on  the 
territory  or  crossing  the  borders  of  another,  so  also 
is  it  obliged  to  defend  its  own  against  aggression 
from  another.  National  territory  does  not  necessi- 
tate mere  national  trade.  To  territory  there  may  be 
national  limits,  but  to  trade,  enterprise,  and  inter- 
course there  need  be  no  limitation,  they  are  interna- 
tional or  universal.  A  small  country  may  rank  first 
in  commerce.  Territorial  aggrandizement  or  wars 
of  conquest  are  needless  as  well  as  wrong.  This  is 
common  sense,  and  this  is  Christianity. 

It  is  Religion,  rather  than  some  particular  reli- 
gion, which  sympathizes  with  and  encourages  the 
spirit  and  the  policies  of  international  brotherhood. 
Some  of  the  great  Religions,  in  their  zeal  for  propa- 
gating their  special  tenets  and  ceremonies,  have 
been  more  divisive  than  harmonious,  and  have  pene- 
trated even  national  sentiments  with  their  divisive 
spirit.  Other  religions  have  been  promulgated  as 
local  or  national  Faiths,  adapted  to  limited  condi- 


BROTHERHOOD.  305 

tions.  Lacking  the  universal  outlook,  they  have 
thought  but  little  of  the  important  relations  which 
exist  between  nation  and  nation  and  their  respective 
governments.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  failings 
of  Christians  and  of  different  branches  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  the  true  student  of  history  must  ac- 
knowledge that  Christ  and  his  first  followers  took  a 
broad  look  over  the  world,  recognized  the  place  of 
governments  and  rulers,  and  the  fact  of  national 
distinctions,  and,  with  them,  enjoined  the  duty  of 
world-wide  fellowship,  which^  leaps  the  bounds  of 
race  or  State.  They  pointed  on  to  coming  ages,  when 
war  between  nations  will  cease,  and  all  kings  and 
nations  will  bow  to  the  will  of  a  Universal  Will,  to 
the  law  of  love  as  centered  in  the  Supreme,  and  em- 
bodied and  made  known  in  Jesus  Christ,  whose  in- 
spiration will  fill  all  things.  Jesus  is  the  universal 
Brother,  God  is  the  universal  Father,  and  through 
them  there  will  yet  come  international  brotherhood 
and  peace  amongst  all  men. 


Date  Due 


